Reach You by Dawn
by Jackie Wepps
Summary: [Dark Magical Girl] This is the story of how Shinoa is a magical girl and a main character. Follow her and her friends in their incredible amazing, Magical lives as magical boys and girls. (Another genre should be applied. I don't know which, suggestions are welcome)
1. Character Revolt

I hate you, Kagami Takaya! You are really not being fair to me. You said you would make all of us main characters. Me, Yu-san, Guren-san and Mika-san. All of us! You wanted to make us all main characters of our own stories, and where have we gone by now? Nowhere! Stupid Kagami-san! You are not being fair. Look at what you have done so far. You have created a manga and an anime for Yu-san! You have written a light novel where Guren-san is the main character, and now, another light novel is coming out with Mika-san as the main character too. It's not fair! I want to be a main character too, I want to be a main character and a magical girl!

I haven't said anything until now because I thought it was coming. But now, I'm sick and tired of waiting. What happened to the concept, "Ladies first?!" I should have been made main character before everyone else! I feel so unfairly treated.

It is official now! I hate you with all my heart. What's gonna be next? Kimizuki-san, Yoichi-san and Mi-chan, are they all going to be main characters before me? Ferid, Crowley, Krul, Kureto-san, Shinya-san. Is everyone going to be a main character before me? This is not fair at all!

But I'm done complaining. I'm done feeling sorry for myself. I have decided. I am no longer going to sit and patiently wait until you decide that "now is finally the time to make Hiragi Shinoa the main character", We both know that day is never gonna come.

This is why I have decided that I am going to take matters into my own hands. I will be the main character of the story that I am writing. I will rule the show. See what you think about that?

I am going to write a story where I am a magical girl. I will be a heroine and save the world from… whatever I figure is going to cause the destruction of the world.

I will make myself tall. I will be about 2 meters! No… that's a bit too much now that I think about it… But I'll make myself taller than Mi-chan. What about 160? Or maybe as tall as Yoichi-san, 165? Should I be nice to Mi-chan and make her taller too? No, that's a bad idea. You're just gonna make her a tall main character anyway. Aren't you, Kagami-san?

To take revenge, I might also come up with wonderful insults of Yu-san and Guren-san. I won't mind seeing them humiliated a little more than usual. I wonder how this will turn out. Don't you?

Anyways, I should get to it. I need to clear out my frustration about this main character concept that I seem to have. You need to read this, or I would never be able to forgive you. I am going to make your other stories fall to pieces and be long forgotten. I will write the best AU story of Owari no Seraph.

"You can trust me when I say, it won't be long"

That's what the song scaPEGoat says. It is used as the ending of the first season of the anime. I wonder what the opening and ending theme would be of this story if it was turned into an anime. Maybe something like. "She is super cool" "She is super strong!" "She is the best of them all!" That should certainly be part of my theme song, and also used if this ever becomes an anime. Oh, I know it will. It will become an anime and translated to every single language. It will make it even bigger than the Owari no Seraph anime.

I wonder what roles everyone is gonna play, because a story only featuring me is going to be boring, I admit that. I think I might be figuring something out… We'll see. Until I figure out something, I will just let the words flow as they come to me.

I hope you like this little Character Revolt, Kagami Takaya-san.

I might want to find a better title though… Character Revolt suits better for this monologue of mine. What do you think? "Shinoa's Magical Adventures" or "Magical Shinoa-chan"? I can't pick one. Hopefully I will find something along the way…

Anyways, let's get started on the writing!

* * *

 **I know, It's been a while. I haven't been very active lately on this website. If you check AO3 thoug, that's a different story. If you haven't seen it, I've written a series about Shinya who owns a bar called Shinya's Bar (both the bar and the series hah!)**

 **Anyways, this is a test since this story was very hard for me to write, I'm not good with action and such, and it was also criticized for being weird, and funny enough, I can see that. But at that point I was so far into the story that I just had to write the ending and then it would be done. So I spent the past week doing that and now it's ready to be published.**

 **Since I really am not sure about this story I am going to need response on if it's good or weird. If I get good response I will continue publishing, if I only get bad response or nothing at all, I will not continue... probably.**

 **This is all for the prologue and the first A/N thanks for reading (if nothing else)**

 **Jackie**


	2. That Night

The moonlight was shining through the white curtains in the gigantic room. 7-year-old Shinoa was lying in the huge bed. Her older sister, Mahiru, had sent her to bed hours ago, but sleep just won't come to her no matter how hard she tried.

It was then, the door opened. Mahiru entered, wearing her battle uniform. She went up by the bedside and grabbed the sword that was leaned against it.

"Where are you going?" Shinoa asked, turning to the older girl.

Mahiru looked at her. She hadn't noticed that Shinoa was awake, but once she did, she smiled kindly. "I'm going on a mission with Guren," she said with a happy smile. It was easy to tell she was happy to be doing something dangerous with the man she loved.

Shinoa was too young to understand the word 'love' completely, but she knew it was something Mahiru felt towards Guren, and he felt towards her.

"Will you be back?" Shinoa asked.

Mahiru looked out the window at the shining moonlight. She bit her lip. It didn't seem like she had heard Shinoa's question. Therefore, Shinoa sat up in the bed, hoping that her movements would have Mahiru pay attention to her.

"Get dressed, Shinoa," Mahiru said in a strict tone. "I want you to come with us," she said.

Shinoa was confused, but did as she was told. She was too young to own a battle uniform, but she had training equipment and a small gun for self-defense. Unlike most kids her age, she did know how and when to use it.

A knock was heard on the door as Mahiru helped Shinoa tie her boots while the young girl was bottoming her own jacket. Without waiting for an answer, Mahiru's fiancée, Shinya, opened the door and entered.

"Mahiru?" he asked. "We'll be leaving shortly."

Mahiru nodded. "I know," she said.

"Are you going too?" Shinoa asked.

Only now Shinya's eyes landed on Shinoa and he looked to Mahiru with questioning eyes. "She's coming along?" he asked.

Mahiru nodded. "I'll explain later. If something happens to me, you'll be in charge of her safety," she said as she finished tying the boots and stood up. "We're ready now," she said before reaching down for Shinoa's hand.

Shinya nodded in response and turned to leave the room. Mahiru followed quickly. Shinoa had to run in order to keep up with their quick steps. She only wished her legs would grow faster so she could keep up with Mahiru and the others.

* * *

They met up outside with Guren, his subordinates and a male and a female whom Shinoa only knew by appearance. They stuck with Guren a lot.

"Mahiru-sama, we're ready to leave," the redheaded girl said in a respectful manner.

"Hold on," Guren said. "Are we bringing Shinoa along? This is no mission for a child."

Mahiru nodded. "I'm well aware. But when I was in our room I felt as if someone was staring at me. I have a feeling she would be safer coming along with us." She looked to Shinoa. "But you have to do what I tell you to."

Shinoa nodded.

"You don't have to worry about her, I'll watch out for her. And if something happens to me, Shinya will do it in my place," Mahiru informed the others. They nodded too, showing that they had understood.

After this brief chat, they went out on the mission. Shinoa curiously asked one of Guren's subordinates what it was about and she explained that they were going to a laboratory owned by someone called Hyakuya Church. Apparently they had something called an Oni, which the Hiragi organization would like to get their hands on. That was their objective. Hyakuya Church was also known for doing human experimentation, so while they were at it, they also had a task to free the captured humans, if possible.

"So this is important?" Shinoa asked the woman.

"Very important," the woman answered

Shinoa nodded as they reached the building where the laboratory was said to be. Mahiru stopped and everyone took a look. Even Shinoa got to peak at it before Mahiru pulled her back.

"We will transform here," she said. "This is a good spot."

Normal people couldn't pull something like this off, no matter how strong they were, this mission would be considered impossible. But because 6 out of 7 members of the squad were magical boys or girls, they could manage. Only Shinya and Shinoa were left to stand and watch as the others did as Mahiru had told them to do and transformed into their magical selves.

Now one may wonder what Shinya was doing there if he couldn't transform. It is actually very simple. He was able to control the magical powers, which is something only few people can do, even less than those who become magical boys. He was unable to transform and therefore only had the strength of an ordinary human, but he could handle the special weapons with magical powers that the Hiragi Family possessed. Therefore he was also considered capable of protecting Mahiru if it was needed. He served as her secretary, bodyguard and fiancée all in one.

"Mahiru, we're ready," Guren said as he and his subordinates had finished transforming. The second after, the other two had finished as well, and Mahiru finished as the last one.

"Let's go," Mahiru said before she ran ahead, towards the building where the Hyakuya Church was. The others ran behind her. Shinoa could barely keep up with them. If it hadn't been for Shinya, who was holding her hand tightly, she would have fallen behind from the get-go.

They snuck in through a window, for this task, Shinoa was placed on Mahiru's back and carried through like that. Being a child sure was inconvenient in situations like these.

They found themselves in a hallway. It was completely dark and completely deserted. Everyone stood still while listening for footsteps.

"There is nothing," Mahiru determined. "Now listen. It is dangerous to go for the Oni. So the plan is that we all charge in and free the experiments. They will come to attack us without a doubt," Mahiru said. "While the situation is chaotic, two will sneak in and get the Oni and return, hopefully nobody will notice."

"Who will that be?" Guren asked.

"Me and you," Mahiru said. "Shinya, I trust you can take care of the situation while Guren and I are gone," she said.

"I highly doubt Shigure-chan and Sayuri-chan will obey my orders," Shinya said.

Guren turned to his subordinates. "For this mission, when I'm not around, you do as Shinya says, that's an order," he demanded.

"Shinoa, you concentrate on freeing people if you can. If not, you hide. Tell Shinya where and we'll get you once we are done," Mahiru said while looking down at Shinoa. "And be careful," she said in a soft tone.

Shinoa nodded. She would do as she had been told.

They took off and ran to the hall where the experimented people were kept. Shinoa was shocked when she saw it. Her eyes grew wide. People were sitting in cells, there were many, mostly children. All of them looked like they were suffering. When she looked into the eyes of the grown-ups, she noticed how dead and blank they seemed. They looked like they had been suffering for the longest time.

She didn't get much time to stare at them though. Shinya had already started shooting and the others had run to attack. Shinoa ran too. She ran to see if she could open one of the cells. She picked the closest one. Inside there was an elder man, two teens, a young boy and an even younger girl who didn't seem to be so well. Actually, she looked very sick.

The lock was high up, far above where Shinoa could reach, so she stepped back and took her aim with the gun she had. She pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the lock, but nothing happened.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled to the people inside as she ran back to Shinya. She only had a limited number of bullets and couldn't waste more than one, even if she wanted to save them.

* * *

 **This chapter may end in a bit of an unfinished way. If i recall correctly, I wrote this and the following chapter as one, and discovered it was way too long. So I devided it into two chapter that are almost evenly long, and just so you know, this is about normal length of my chapters (approximately 2 pages in word)**

 **Thanks for reading**

 **Jackie**


	3. Awakening

Shinya turned to her once he saw her out of the corner of his eye. Shinoa had already spotted a good hiding place behind some boxes.

"I'll go there!" she directed Shinya's attention towards the boxes. He only nodded in response to her words and shot an approaching enemy.

Shinoa ran to the boxes and hid behind them. She kept an eye on everything that was going on outside. To begin with, only those she knew were fighting against guards, but then more guards appeared, and the cells opened one by one. With the opening doors, came the experimented people, especially the teens and the children, and attacked the soldiers. Mahiru and Guren were gone.

From her hiding place, Shinoa also saw other children running in panic. A young girl was dragging a boy with her. It seemed they were trying to escape from the battle.

"We need to hide, Yoichi," the girl told the younger boy. "Hurry!" And then the two disappeared out of Shinoa's view.

A loud bang was heard. Suddenly a force of air was pressured down on Shinoa. She knew what it was right away. It was an explosion. She had read about them in books. People tended to use explosive when they didn't know what else to do to defeat the magical ability.

These explosions caused people to panic, and Shinoa heard loud screams from every direction. She could only sit and hold her breath while waiting. She didn't think she had ever been this scared before. Hold on, she was scared? But that was what was expected of a 7 year-old girl. Hiragi or not, this was normal.

"Hang in there, Yuu-chan!" Shinoa heard someone yell. She looked out to see a blonde kid with an injured arm. He was half carrying, half dragging a black-haired boy who appeared to be unconscious.

A soldier stepped up in front of the two boys and looked down at them.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

The blonde stopped. He seemed insecure of how to respond to this. "We… We're going out!" he said in an attempt to sound determined.

"I won't let you," The man said while preparing to draw his sword. "Go back into your cell."

"Mika," the black-haired said. "Run!"

"I'm not leaving you, Yuu-chan," the blonde said while holding his friend in a tight grip.

"Mika!" The black-haired yelled as the soldier in front of them raised his sword.

Shinoa couldn't stand to watch something like that. It was cruel. She didn't wish to see two kids die like that while she could do something about it. She ran out of her hiding spot and stood between the man and the two boys. She jumped up, and while she did so, something clicked inside of her.

She changed.

No wait. That was wrong.

She transformed.

When she reached the peak of her jump, she stretched out her hand and grabbed the sword, stopping its forceful path towards the boys.

"Run!" Shinoa told the boys as she landed back on the ground. The blonde boy dragged his friend along to the hiding spot Shinoa had been using. It would provide them with cover for a while.

"What are you?" The soldier let out a sarcastic laugh. "A fairy?" he continued laughing.

Shinoa glared at him before she used the first attack that came to mind.

"Starlight KICK!" she screamed before she jumped up and kicked him in the head as he saw stars. She didn't know how she could jump almost her own height, but that was what she had just done.

She landed back on the ground and the soldier fell backwards, dropping his sword. Then she ran to find Shinya and tell him about this. He was the commander until Mahiru returned. He should have something she could do to help.

Shinoa ran, careful not to get in between two fighting people. She ran to find Shinya and finally saw him. He was standing with his back towards her, and he wasn't moving. He was staring at the smoke in front of him. It was slowly clearing up. As Shinoa came closer she started to be able to see what was behind the smoke. Soon it was clear.

It was as if everything froze around her. She saw Mahiru and Guren standing together behind the smoke. It appeared they were discussing something.

Shinoa walked up to Shinya. She was shivering for reasons she didn't know. There was something strange about the whole situation. Somehow, it made her feel uneasy.

Shinoa watched as Mahiru stepped close to Guren. He didn't move an inch as she did so. He simply stood and watched her. He seemed calm.

"You awoke," Shinya said. He had noticed Shinoa's presence and apparently decided to draw her attention away from Mahiru and Guren.

"Yes, just now," Shinoa answered.

"You're early," Shinya said.

"Mahiru was earlier, wasn't she?" Shinoa asked.

"You should have stayed at your hiding spot," he said. "Even if you have awakened, you're still new. You could easily get into trouble."

Shinoa hadn't realized, but now that Shinya said it, she knew he was right.

An explosion came. It caused the entire building to shake and Guren ran up to them. He stopped in front of Shinya and Shinoa. He only gave Shinoa a quick look before he spoke to Shinya.

"We have to retreat," he said.

"What about Mahiru?" Shinya asked.

"This is her order. This place is collapsing," Guren said in a strict tone.

"But-" Shinya tried to protest but Guren cut him off.

"Get Shinoa out of here, she ordered that specifically," Guren demanded. "Wait by the entrance. The others will come. Once everyone is there, you'll go. I'll get Mahiru."

Shinya gave up and nodded. Then he turned to Shinoa.

"Let's go, Shinoa-chan," he said before heading towards the entrance to the room. There was no need for him to drag Shinoa by the hand anymore. Magical girls were faster than humans. They were even faster than magical boys once they were fully grown.

Shinoa stopped Shinya from going once they were about halfway.

"Shinya, if this place is collapsing, we need to save the children!" she called out to him.

"We don't even know where they are," Shinya said before forcing her to come along by grabbing her hand. He dragged her to the door and soon the others were there as well.

They ran back the same way they came and jumped out the window they had entered through. Once they were on the ground, the building collapsed. Shinoa stared at it in horror.

"Where is Guren-sama?" One of Guren's subordinates asked.

Shinya turned to her. "He went in for Mahiru. I'm sure it's okay," he lied, but with a reassuring smile on his face that made her unable not to believe him.

Minutes passed and the building was now nothing but rubbles. Shinoa couldn't help but think about all the children she had seen. Had they made it out alive or had they all died trying?

They stared at the huge pile of bricks that had once been the lab of the Hyakuya Church. Smoke was still rising from the explosions, and there was dust in the air. However, as the minutes passed, a figure started immerging from the dust and smoke.

The figure was walking closer to them, and after only a matter of seconds, they all could determine that it was a male figure.

"Prepare yourselves," Shinya demanded.

Everyone prepared to fight, in case the figure was an enemy, but then the person stepped out of the dust and smoke and became clear to them. He had a beat look on his face as all eyes landed on him.

"Guren-sama!" Both his subordinates yelled and ran up to him. They were both worried about what had happened to their master.

Guren dropped to his knees before they could reach him, and the remaining four walked up to him as well.

"What happened?" Shinya asked.

Guren stared down at his hands for a while. He didn't say a word for at least a couple of minutes. Then he looked up at Shinoa instead of Shinya.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I did all I could, but I couldn't save Mahiru." Tears started running down his face and he hid it in his hands until he got his emotions under control. Everyone just left him be. They didn't know how to deal with it. But the matter was soon over.

As the sun rose in the horizon, the six teens and the 7 year-old girl walked home with heavy, sorrowful hearts. Even Shinoa's joy of becoming a magical girl was overshadowed by the loss of her sister.


	4. New Times

Eight years had passed since Mahiru had died and everyone had adjusted to the thought of that. Guren had been promoted to take over Mahiru's post as the leader of magical girls. However, it was only temporary. Shinoa's father had said that once Shinoa was old enough, she could claim the position at any time she wanted, and in addition, Guren was being kept in a short leach by Shinoa's father and older half-brothers.

Shinya was now working as Guren's assistant instead of Mahiru's. He was also kept in a leach by Shinoa's family because they didn't trust him. They believed he was getting too well along with Guren. Shinoa had heard her father tell Shinya that one day.

As mentioned, Shinoa could claim her position as leader of the magical girls at any time she wanted. It had been so since her 15th birthday last December. The reason why she hadn't claimed it yet, was because of the fact that she had no desire of leading anything. She was also smart enough to know that Guren was better at leading the entire organization than she was. Plus, if she became the leader, she would lose all her freedom. She didn't wish for that either.

So at the moment, Shinoa was training with a couple of kids her own age. They were all either magical boys or girls, mostly girls, but most of them were weaker than her. The only one who could give Shinoa a challenge was the girl she was partnered up with for now, Sanguu Mitsuba.

For now, they were only fighting with martial arts. It was a skill that was required of all with magical abilities.

Mitsuba attempted to land a kick in Shinoa's face, but Shinoa dodged and kicked at Mitsuba's legs so she lost her balance. It was the third time their practice had ended like this. Mitsuba fell to the floor and glared up at Shinoa.

"You have to do better than that, Mi-chan," Shinoa said while smiling.

Mitsuba shook her head. "Stop mocking me for having shorter legs than you," she said.

Shinoa continued to smile. "Okay, I won't do it again… for this practice."

She had barely spoken the words before one of Guren's subordinates, Sayuri, came in and looked around. Her eyes landed on Shinoa and she walked over.

"Shinoa-san," she said. "Guren-sama wants to see you about something," she informed in a hushed voice. "Come with me please."

Shinoa nodded. "I guess practice is over for today, bye Mi-chan," she said while waving at the yellow-haired girl.

Mitsuba frowned but said nothing as Shinoa left with Sayuri to go see the leader.

Sayuri let the way out of the training hall and down several hallways. She then walked up a set of stairs and down another hallway, until she reached a huge door. Shinoa followed her all the way. She knew that behind this huge door, was Guren's office.

Sayuri lifted her hand and knocked three times on the door. "Excuse me, Guren-sama, I brought Shinoa-san as you requested," she said.

A muffled argument was heard before someone called for them to enter and Sayuri did so, with Shinoa in toe.

Shinoa looked around in the room. Guren was sitting behind a desk, there were some papers in front of him and he had an annoyed expression on his face while he glared in the direction of the couch.

In the couch, Shinya was sitting with his legs resting on the coffee table and a cola in hand. His expression was just about the opposite of Guren's and Shinoa could guess who had been arguing, and about what as well.

Guren had most likely been too busy or too lazy to open the door and asked Shinya to do it, to which the other had refused right away and said that Guren could do it himself.

Shinoa knew. She had been working under Guren for the past eight years, ever since her magical abilities awoke and she became a magical girl.

"You wanted to see me?" Shinoa asked as she walked past Sayuri and up to Guren's desk. She had a teasing smile on her face.

Guren nodded and looked at some papers before speaking to her. "We have managed to locate the Oni power that we tried to obtain eight years ago," Guren started. "We have learned that it has been taken by an organization that calls themselves Kyuketsuki. They are an organization full of vampire-like human beings. They suck blood and they are causing the number of humans to decrease at a worrying rate." Guren looked at his papers for more information.

"What do I have to do with it?" Shinoa asked.

"The Kyuketsuki have already killed some of our people, and this will continue without a doubt. They are strong and possess magical abilities of their own. A war is most likely to start between us and them. You are one of our best, Shinoa. Therefore we have decided to assign you a squad as you can assist us in this war," Guren said.

"Who will be on the squad?" Shinoa asked. She didn't know anyone who was ready to fight who weren't already assigned to a squad. The only one she could come up with was Mitsuba, but she still had a way to go.

"We have found three boys. They are inexperienced but all of them are magical. Although, they are not aware of this yet. You will have to tell them this yourself," Guren informed before handing Shinoa three new documents. Each held a profile of a boy about her own age.

Saotome Yoichi

Kimizuki Shiho

Hyakuya Yuuichiro.

Those three boys would be her squad members. But who would the fourth be? Shinoa turned to Guren to ask that question, but he was already ahead of her with the answer.

"I will find a suitable fourth member," he said.

Shinya let out a sigh. "More work for me to do." He attempted to sound tired, yet an amused tone was notable in his voice.

"Kureto is giving you work too, so what are you even doing, slacking off in my office?" Guren responded.

Shinya took his feet down from the coffee table. Indeed he had his own office, but he would usually only go there to pick up his paperwork and then go do it at Guren's office, to the others annoyance.

"Anyway," Guren turned back to Shinoa, "Saotome Yoichi and Hyakuya Yuuichiro can be found at the local public high school. Kimizuki is working at the café across the street from there," he said. "You choose how and when you do it. But you have to have them here in my office at noon one week from now," Guren said.

Shinoa nodded. "I understand. But why don't you go get them?"

Guren glared at her. "I'll gladly go get them if you'll take over my paperwork," he said.

Shinoa smiled and shook her head. "No thanks," she answered. "I still figure you're the best at handling that." She then turned around to leave the office.

"Bye, Shinoa-chan," Shinya said and waved from the couch. He still hadn't gotten up to do his own work.

Shinoa waved while wondering about how amazingly much paperwork there was for an organization that fought to keep the world safe from evil. She was glad she had yet to claim her title as leader.

But now she was going to lead a squad. This would be her first time leading a squad. It would also be her first time on the battlefield since eight years ago. She was a bit nervous, but this was overshadowed by the excitement and joy she felt.

She would finally get to use her abilities for real. What more could she want?

* * *

 **I'm happy. Since yesterday it seems the story has gained a "readers-boom", thanks to everyone for making that happen!**

 **The next chapter will be up on Saturday this week (if all goes well) I will see how you take the story by then, but so far it looks like I'll continue until I'm done publishing everything.**

 **Also thanks to you who favorited and followed. That especially means a lot.**

 **Jackie**


	5. Yuu, Mika and Yoichi

Shinoa was sitting by the high school gate. She was watching as a normal school day passed by. She had attached some of her own power to the boy named Saotome Yoichi when he passed by her that same morning. She now saw everything through his eyes. It was much easier to do this than try to sneak into the school and pretend to be one of the students like any ordinary person would have done.

Yoichi was having class, but it would be over soon, so would the school day. Shinoa wanted to see if he and Yuuichiro had a connection, and after school would be the best time to figure it out.

The final bell rang, marking the end of the day and Yoichi and his classmates stood up and prepared to leave the classroom. Yoichi walked out and down the hallway. He seemed to be heading somewhere specific.

While he walked, Shinoa spotted Yuuichiro through his eyes. He was talking to a blonde boy right outside one of the many classrooms.

"Just go ahead, Yuu-chan," the blonde said. "I've got cleaning duty."

"If you say so, Mika," Yuuichiro answered.

Yoichi didn't pick up any more of their conversation. He turned down a hallway, walked down the stairs and then stopped once he reached a group of boys.

"There you are, Yoichi," One of the boys said. "Have you been a good friend today?"

"I did your homework like you asked me too, but… don't you think this is something you should do yourself?" Yoichi asked.

"You want to be my friend, a friend does anything the other tells them to," the guy said with a grin. Shinoa knew that he was trying to fool Yoichi. She could sense that Yoichi knew it too, but he said nothing. She didn't know why though.

The other guys laughed in reaction to Yoichi's silence.

"Now, have you also gotten those snacks I told you to bring?" the guy asked as his friends continued to laugh.

Yoichi shook his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't afford to buy anything," he said.

"What?" The guy's friends stopped laughing as the guy glared at Yoichi. He took one step closer and towered over Yoichi, trying to give off a threatening impression. "Didn't your sister leave you anything?"

"My sister is dead," Yoichi answered. He didn't seem sad about it, but he spoke with a tone that indicated that he did care about it. Was he angry?

"So what? Then she was probably just a good for nothing anyway," the guy said.

"Don't speak of anyone's family like that!"

Everyone, including Yoichi, looked over to see Yuuichiro standing by the stairs. Apparently none of them had noticed him coming. The black-haired walked over and stood up to the threatening guy.

"What's this?" The guy asked. "What do you want?"

"Look, I don't really care what jerks like you do, but if you use friendship as an excuse to use someone, or speak ill of someone's family, that pisses me off," Yuuichiro said coldly.

"Hyakuya-kun," Yoichi said.

The guy smiled. "Are you asking for a fight?"

"I could beat you with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back," Yuuichiro said cockily.

And so he got the fight he asked for. Watching this, Shinoa didn't know what was worse: the fact that Yuuichiro was way weaker than he made himself out to be, or the fact that Yoichi just stood by and watched as Yuuichiro took a beating.

Finally the guys figured Yuuichiro had had enough of a beating and decided to leave him and Yoichi alone, to go get the snacks they wanted so badly.

"Are you okay, Hyakuya-kun?" Yoichi asked.

"I'm fine, and just call me Yuu," the black-haired said. Shinoa decided to think of him as that as well.

"Okay, Yuu-kun," Yoichi nodded as Yuu stood up from the floor.

"Why were you letting them use you like that?" Yuu asked.

"I want a friendship similar to the one you have with that housemate of yours," Yoichi answered. "So I tried speaking to people and that guy let me be his friend."

Yuu smiled. "Mika is more than a friend," he said. "Mika is family."

"Family…" Yoichi repeated.

"Yuu-chan!" The blonde boy came running down the stairs. "I finished, so we can go home now," he said. Then he stopped as he saw Yoichi. A disapproving look appeared on his face. "Who is that, Yuu-chan?" he asked.

"I'm Saotome Yoichi." Yoichi introduced himself, since he hadn't introduced himself to Yuu either.

"And I'm Hyakuya Yuuichiro and this is Hyakuya Mikaela," Yuu introduced both himself and the blonde, Mika.

"I see," Mika just said. "Let's go home, Yuu-chan."

Mika started walking towards the exit of the building when a woman entered. Her hair was white and she was dressed in a battle uniform, different from the one Shinoa knew. This woman was from a different organization, and Shinoa had a pretty good idea of which one.

The woman looked at Yuu and Yoichi. She was clearly targeting them.

"Yuu-chan, get behind me," Mika said before pushing himself in front of Yuu.

"No Mika," Yuu said. "She's dangerous."

"I'm aware," Mika answered.

Shinoa spat out the worst curses she knew as she got up from her position by the school gates. How could she had let this Kyuketsuki woman slip by her? Had she been wrapped too much up in what had happened between Yuu and Yoichi to notice? No matter the case she would have to do something about the current situation.

Through Yoichi's eyes she watched as the Kyuketsuki woman ran to attack and Mika ran forward to defend Yuu from the incoming attack.

The woman punched Mika in the stomach, sending him flying across the room and into the wall behind Yuu and Yoichi. He fell down to the floor, unconscious.

Everyone else ran past Shinoa in a panic. She could see the entrance and the woman now and her link with Yoichi disappeared. This meant he had spotted her. If he hadn't, she would have had to cut the connection herself. This was the thing, if she saw herself through another person's eyes, the connection between her and that person would be cut immediately.

"Transform!" Shinoa yelled, activating the transformation into the magical girl. She grew stronger and her clothes changed as she continued to run towards the Kyuketsuki.

Shinoa ran in, jumped over the head of the Kyuketsuki and landed in front of Yuu and Yoichi, ready to defend them. She met the Kyuketsuki's eyes with a challenging look.

"You are from the Majika no Oni, aren't you?" the Kyuketsuki asked, tilting her head. "Step aside and I won't hurt you, I just need the boys," she said.

"I don't feel like doing that," Shinoa answered in her most sugar-sweet tone.

"I see," The Kyuketsuki woman answered softly. "Then you must die."

"Dying is not exactly on my to-do list," Shinoa said before jumping off. "Starlight Flash!" she yelled before throwing a ball of light at the Kyuketsuki. The woman shook off the attack easily and jumped after Shinoa.

"Blood Pierce," she said before throwing sharp bloody stains at Shinoa.

Shinoa saw no other way out. She would have to advance. She hadn't tried it often, but she knew how to do it. She closed her eyes while dodging the piercing blood stains.

"Lend me your power, Shikama Douji!" she said, opening her eyes as she said the name. She felt herself sync with the power and a scythe appeared in her hand.

With one swing of the scythe she cut down the Kyuketsuki and landed on the ground in front of Yuu and Yoichi who simply stared at her.

"Well, where's my gratitude?" Shinoa asked.

Yuu and Yoichi both continued to just stare. Yuu was the first to regain the ability to talk.

"Who are you?" he asked.

* * *

 **If I tell you I'm not copying anything, will you buy it?**

 **Anyways, I've decided to continue this story on both websites because it is doing well. I'm happy about this.**

 **Sorry if it seems a little emotionless but I just got back from a week at a summer camp with a lot of friends, where we drank a bit too much, and I'm not able to think clearly, if I'm able to think at all.**

 **Remind you, I wrote this story ages ago, so the chapter hasn't suffered from it.**

 **Jackie**


	6. Strawberry Shake

"Who are you?" Yuu asked Shinoa as she stood smiling in front of them. Both his and Yoichi's faces had a ridiculously confused look to them that Shinoa could snap a picture off and laugh at for days without getting tired, especially Yuu's face.

"I'm Hiragi Shinoa, just call me Shinoa," Shinoa answered. "Surely you've heard of me."

"Do you go to school here, Shinoa-san?" Yoichi asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "I'm of the Hiragi Family who rules the Majika no Oni," she said. "I am from the Majika no Tsuki part, with the most skilled magical boys and girls," she explained.

"So you're a magical girl?" Yuu asked, not really interested.

"Bingo, you're smarter than I thought, Yuu-san," Shinoa smiled widely. "I'm sure you would also like to know what I'm doing here. Right?"

Yuu and Yoichi both nodded at this.

"We need you," Shinoa said. "You both are what we call magical boys, so you can do as me and transform and all that other cool stuff."

"What if we don't want to be magical boys?" Yuu asked. "I have Mika, and both of us have to work hard for a living," he said.

"So do I," Yoichi added.

"You're lucky then," Shinoa said. "It turns being a magical boy always gets paid. I'm not very high ranking, but I earn enough to live on my own if that's what I want," she said with a knowing smile. "Plus, you can't decline. Only girls are free to do that, seeing as all girls are magical."

"All girls?" Yuu asked.

Shinoa nodded. "Yes, though most choose not to become one, those girls who choose to be magical, equals out the amount of boys who actually are."

"I still have Mika," Yuu said, eyeing Mika who was still lying by the wall, unconscious.

"I understand," Shinoa answered. "But you will continuously be targeted, just like you were today. The Kyuketsuki will come after you, and some won't hesitate to kill your friend if he gets in the way."

Yuu looked from Mika to Shinoa and then back to Mika. He took in a deep breath as he came to a conclusion.

"Alright," he said. "I'll become a magical boy, for the sake of my family."

"Then I'll become a magical boy too," Yoichi declared with a determined look.

"Good," Shinoa smiled. "Both of you go home, and show up on this address on Monday." She handed both Yuu and Yoichi a piece of paper with the Majika no Tsuki's address written before she turned around and left.

Once she had turned the nearest corner, she transformed back into her original clothes and looked at her watch. If her calculations were correct, Kimizuki's shift should be starting in another half an hour.

A piece of purple fabric flew into her eyes and she grabbed a hold of it, immediately noticing that it was part of the ribbon she was using for her bow.

"aww, and it's brand new," she whined before deciding to look for a new one while waiting for Kimizuki's shift to start.

Half an hour later, Shinoa entered the small café across the street from the school. She noticed Kimizuki behind the counter. She had already decided on what she wanted. She walked up to Kimizuki and looked up at him.

"Excuse me?" she asked. "Could I have a cheesecake?"

Kimizuki nodded. "Anything else?"

"I'm kinda thirsty too… what do you think would go well with a cheese cake?" Shinoa asked.

"Don't know," Kimizuki answered her.

"That's boring… Do you have any specialties that you're good at making?" Shinoa asked.

"I specialize in cookies, not in drinks," Kimizuki answered coldly. Shinoa wondered how he got himself hired for this job.

"That's a shame." Shinoa started looking around the café for clues of a drink to order. Her gaze finally landed on Kimizuki's hair and she smiled. "What about a strawberry shake?" she asked.

Kimizuki nodded and wrote it down. "Anything else?" he asked.

"No, that'll be all," Shinoa smiled.

"1200 yen," Kimizuki declared and Shinoa frowned at the expensive prize. She said nothing though. She just paid and went to have a seat.

She patiently waited for Kimizuki to come serve her order. She had it all planned out, how she would start talking to him and then she would just tell him about his abilities and ask him to join up with her.

A plate was placed in front of her before she knew it. She looked up and saw Kimizuki's cold face. He didn't look at her as he also placed the strawberry shake in front of her.

"Kimizuki-san?" Shinoa asked.

Kimizuki looked at her as she said his name. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Your name tag," Shinoa pointed out. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something," she continued, directing the conversation on the track.

"What?" he asked. "I have other costumers you know."

Shinoa nodded. "I know that," she said. "I just want to tell you that you are a magical boy and that there might be people out there looking for you," she said.

Kimizuki looked at her through the corner of his eye. "No one in my family has been a magical girl, everyone has declined," he said. "Besides, I have work and a sick sister."

"A sick sister?" Shinoa asked. "I'm sorry to hear, but we can help you with that," she offered.

Kimizuki turned half his face towards her. He was trying to hide his interest. "How?" he asked.

"We will pay you for your effort at the organization, and we will even pay her medicine," Shinoa explained happily.

Not much doubt could be seen in Kimizuki's eyes as he turned to fully look at Shinoa. Shinoa awaited his answer while taking a bite of the cheesecake.

"Think about it, Kimizuki-san," she said. "You have until I'm done eating." With a movement of her hand, she dismissed the tall male and turned to eat her cheesecake and drink her strawberry shake.

After ten minutes of trying to down both, Shinoa had to give up and declare that both the cheesecake and the strawberry shake were good, but they made for a terrible combination. She then decided to first eat the cheesecake, and then drink the shake afterwards.

It took another five minutes before Kimizuki came over and took the plate. Shinoa hadn't finished drinking the strawberry shake yet, but he kept standing until she removed the straw from her lips.

"I take it you have an answer," she concluded. She attempted to interpret Kimizuki's facial expression and guess what his answer might be, but she wasn't given a single hint.

"I will work with you," he said. "When am I to show up?"

"On Monday," Shinoa said. "But you can come as much as you like for training until then." She placed the straw back between her lips and drank more of the strawberry shake.

Kimizuki nodded. "I will be there," he assured before leaving.

Shinoa finished her shake and left the café as soon as that was done with. She made a mental note to come back, but never order cheesecake and strawberry shake together. Just because two things are good, it doesn't mean they taste good when combined.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, favoriting and following. I'm really grateful for you doing all three. But also feel free to leave a review. As my readers, your opinion of the story is very important, so it would mean a lot. Thank you.**

 **Jackie**


	7. Telephone Pole

Shinoa had taken contact to the three boys on a Friday afternoon. Now it was Monday, and she had been keeping an eye on all of them over the weekend. She knew they were still all defenseless, as none of them knew how to use their own powers yet. Fortunately, nothing had happened.

Today was the day when they would all assemble and she would present them to Guren, as much as that went when Guren already knew the three boys.

Shinoa was waiting at the entrance hall, where they would all come shortly. She would have to wait until they had all arrived, and then she would escort them to Guren's office.

Kimizuki was first to arrive. He was a little earlier than Shinoa had expected for any of them to be. He looked around as he entered, and when he spotted Shinoa, he walked over.

"Am I the only one?" he asked.

"No," Shinoa answered. "We are waiting for two more."

Kimizuki nodded. Then Shinoa spotted Yuu through the door. He was still far away.

"There comes one," she said. "Go greet him or something, I need to pick up something I forgot." The fact that she had forgotten something was a lie. While she turned away, she attached some of her own power to Kimizuki, just like she had done to Yoichi last Friday. She purposefully left the three to themselves, because she had a feeling something amusing would happen while she wasn't there.

Shinoa went behind the nearest door and hid herself and she watched as Kimizuki walked out the door. He had noticed Yuu too.

Kimizuki looked up and down Yuu as to see if he was worth anything. Yuu looked back at Kimizuki with a What-do-you-think-you-are-doing expression.

Kimizuki didn't answer. He just punched Yuu in the face and turned to walk back inside. As soon as he couldn't be seen clearly from the door anymore, Shinoa heard someone call out.

"Yuu-kun! Are you okay?" It was Yoichi who had finally arrived. "What happened to you?" he asked.

Kimizuki turned around and could now see both Yuu and Yoichi through the door.

"Nothing," Yuu said. He was covering a black eye with his right hand. "I just walked into a telephone pole."

"Mika-kun would be concerned if he heard this," Yoichi said in a slightly thoughtful, slightly amused tone.

"What has Mika got to do with anything?" Yuu asked.

"Ah! Nothing," Yoichi said hastily. "Forget I said anything."

"Anyways," Yuu said. "Let's go, Shinoa is waiting for us."

Shinoa decided that now was about the time to return to Kimizuki. She silently did so, and stood by his side. The link disappeared. He had seen her.

Yuu and Yoichi entered and Shinoa decided to call out to them.

"Yuu-san, Yoichi-san," she said while waving a hand at them.

Yuu and Yoichi walked over. Yuu glared as he noticed that the one who punched him in the face stood right next to Shinoa. Shinoa smiled softly as she saw the black eye Yuu had received with her own eyes. It was really impressive.

"What happened to you, Yuu-san?" Shinoa asked with a faked concern in her voice.

"I walked into a telephone pole," Yuu said while glaring at Kimizuki.

"I see, that's gotta hurt." Shinoa still remembered to speak, using the faked concern for her teammate.

Yuu didn't answer. He just continued to look at Kimizuki until the pink-haired guy with glasses found himself forced to speak first.

"What?" he asked.

"What are you doing here, Telephone pole?" Yuu asked in a tone, like he was asking for another punch. Shinoa was sure he originally wanted a fight, but judging from what had happened earlier, he would probably just get a punch to the face again.

"Are you asking for a fight?" Kimizuki asked, like Shinoa had expected.

"Hey now," Yoichi said, trying to step in between. "I think we are supposed to get along." he attempted a smile, but it ended up looking rather silly.

"That's right," Shinoa confirmed. "The four of us are on a squad together, along with one more, whom we will find among our own ranks."

Yuu glared at Kimizuki, but seemed to agree with himself that it would be better to suck up his irritation for the moment and get the most important things done first. It seemed he had really become determined about the thought of protecting his family.

"What are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

Shinoa smiled. "The commander, our leader, Ichinose Guren, wants to see us," she said. "Follow me." Then she started walking towards Guren's office. The three boys followed her. She reached the door and knocked on it, politely, before entering. She didn't await Guren's answer like most would.

"Shinoa," Guren just said as he looked up and saw her. "You're late."

"It's not my fault that Yuu-san decided to knock himself over with a telephone pole," Shinoa responded, smiling sweetly.

Yuu now glared at Shinoa instead of Kimizuki. "It's not my fault the telephone pole punched me!" he yelled, both irritated and angry.

Guren smiled. He seemed to be slightly amused. He then stood up and walked up to the three boys. "I'm Ichinose Guren, the commander of the Majika no Tsuki. I am the one giving the orders. Shinoa is to make sure that you fulfill my orders," he said. "Is that understood?"

All three boys nodded.

"Present yourselves," Guren demanded.

"Kimizuki Shiho, age 16, I was formerly working at a café," Kimizuki said in response.

"Saotome Yoichi, age 16, I'm a high school student," Yoichi responded.

"Hyakuya Yuuichiro. I'm 16 too. I really like curry." Yuu said this in a laid back tone with a small smile on his face. Shinoa, Yoichi and Kimizuki all stared at him, while Guren continued to smile, amused by the honest brat.

"You know, Yuu, I think I like you," Guren commented to the others' disbelief. "You will start by practicing your transformation, which is the most important thing to do when you have the power," Guren said to all of them. He knew Shinoa had told them everything. It was her duty as their leader.

"How do we do that?" Yuu asked.

"Show them, Shinoa," Guren said.

Shinoa hesitated. "You look for the power inside and expand it," she said. "When you can't expand it anymore, you simply yell: transform! And it should happen."

All three tried. They searched for, and found their magic and attempted to expand it. They all called for the transformation, but nothing happened.

"There is a special pose that you might want to use until your bodies adjust," Guren said. "Shinoa, show it."

"But then I'll transform," Shinoa said. "I'm a cute innocent little girl, I don't want them to see me!"

The three boys gave Shinoa an odd look. She decided not to tell them what she meant by her words, and just fight back the transformation. She took the position like a ballerina, with her right leg stretched out behind her, and her entire body weight on her left leg. Then she stretched her arms above her head and spread them to either side. She then stood back down.

"That's the position," she said.

"That's embarrassing," Yuu declared. "No way I'm gonna do that."

"But I'm sure you can do it before the others can," Shinoa said in a daring tone. "The first to do it is most likely the strongest." This wasn't entirely true. It couldn't be determined for sure who was the strongest based on who could transform first. Mahiru had been slow, but she had by far been the most powerful. Shinoa remembered as much.

Yuu sighed. Faced with this, he wanted to be the first to transform. How sweet wouldn't it be if he could proof to be stronger than Kimizuki, maybe even Shinoa?

Yuu took in a deep breath and took the position he had claimed to be so embarrassing just a minute ago. If this was just it, it shouldn't be so bad.

If Yuu only knew what he had coming…

* * *

 **I'm sorry. I intended to update on last Monday and tell you that I wouldn't be able to update through Tuesday and Wednesday, but it looks like I screwed up bad and forgot to upload a new chapter. I didn't even remember about this until... Tuesday night or something.**

 **It looks like this is going well though. I'm happy to see so many people are reading this story. Thanks a bunch.**

 **Jackie**


	8. Transformation

Yuu took the position he had claimed to be so embarrassing in the previous chapter. He then expanded his own power to the maximum point and then let go while calling for the transformation. Everyone watched as he did so, Yoichi with an impressed look, Kimizuki with disbelief, and Shinoa with an amused expression.

A light pink cloud appeared around Yuu as he transformed. Yoichi looked even more amazed at this. But this was only for a moment as Yoichi and Kimizuki both spotted something. Yoichi looked away with a light shade of pink on his cheeks while Kimizuki had an amused smile as he too looked away. Shinoa had been looking away all along while the pervert Guren shamelessly stared.

The pink cloud disappeared and Yuu looked down his body to see that he had actually managed to transform. His uniform was black and green and looked really cool in his own opinion. This was the time when Shinoa turned to look again.

"WOAH!" Yuu yelled. "This is amazing! I feel like I could do anything!"

"Yuu-kun…" Yoichi said as he peaked out of the corner of his eye. Shinoa could barely contain her own laughter at this.

Yuu noticed both, and also Guren's and Kimizuki's expressions while he was at it.

He blinked once in confusion. "What's going on,"

"You know, yours is very small," Guren delivered the perverted comment.

Yuu was confused until Yoichi decided to explain.

"Yuu-kun… that pinkish cloud doesn't hide you entirely. Everyone saw it."

It was by Yoichi's words that Yuu understood what was going on and blushed. "Y-y-you all saw it?" he asked before looking at Guren's and Shinoa's amused expressions. "Why didn't you say anything!" His voice continuously rose to a yell.

"You should have thought about something like that," Guren said.

"I gave you plenty of hints too," Shinoa said.

"Oh yeah?" Yuu send her a look that told her how little he believed her.

"When I refused to take the position, saying that I didn't want you to see me, wasn't that enough of a hint?" Shinoa had a slightly mischievous look on her face as she explained.

Yuu frowned. He couldn't even recall that she had said that. Yoichi and Kimizuki recalled perfectly, and as their eyes met, they knew that they were both relieved that they hadn't transformed because not only would they have been spotted, but Shinoa and Guren would clearly have made a fool out of them as well if they had.

"Well," Guren said. "Stop looking like that, you two will have to transform as well."

"What!" Yoichi exclaimed. "I really don't want to do it right now!"

Kimizuki nodded. "I agree, this is too much exposure for anyone's comfort."

"Come on," Yuu said. "It's not that bad." He was smiling as he sent Kimizuki a challenging look, daring him to do it.

However, Kimizuki was smart enough to understand that Yuu would take advantage of the situation if he transformed right now. He looked at Shinoa. "I'll do it in privacy," he said in a slightly demanding tone.

"There's a bathroom over there," Guren said, pointing in the direction of the door.

"I'd like some privacy too," Yoichi declared.

"Well," Shinoa said. "There is only one bathroom and we are in a hurry."

Yoichi and Kimizuki exchanged looks. Neither of them felt like transforming in front of anyone, knowing what would happen.

"How much can we see while we transform?" he asked.

Yuu smiled. "An awesome multicolored world," he said. "In the same time you feel warm, and like you can fly," he continued.

Yoichi nodded. "So we won't see each other…" he said. "Then I don't have a problem. What about you, Kimizuki-kun?" he asked the glasses guy.

Kimizuki thought about it for a bit, before he nodded. "Let's just get it over with." then he led the way to the bathroom Guren had pointed out. Yoichi followed shortly after and the door closed.

"You're not peaking?" Guren asked while looking indirectly at Shinoa.

"You're the only one who'd peak," Shinoa replied with a cute laughter.

Guren didn't respond to Shinoa's comment, neither did he respond to Yuu's confused look, even if he knew what Yuu was continuously asking himself about.

After less than two minutes, they heard a loud exclamation coming from the bathroom and about one second later, Yoichi stormed out. He looked slightly shocked and his face was even more pink than before. He had completed the transformation and now wore clothes, slightly similar to Yuu's.

"What's going on?" Kimizuki came out of the bathroom as well, also dressed differently than before. To anyone who didn't know better, it looked like they had just changed clothes.

"I didn't believe Yoichi-san was a pervert too," Shinoa attempted an adorable smile. "Poor little me, surrounded by a bunch of pervy guys, someone has to save me!" Her tone was full of sarcasm as she spoke, and to top it off, she flashed an innocent smile at the four males surrounding her.

"The only pervert here is you," Yuu declared.

"How could you accuse me of that, Yuu-san? Now you have hurt my feelings." Shinoa pulled on a shocked and innocent expression at the same time. Yuu got more busy figuring out how she made that face rather than finding a response.

"But what do you mean Yoichi is a pervert?" Yuu said after he had stopped thinking about Shinoa's facial expression. He now looked from Shinoa to Yoichi to Kimizuki and then back to Shinoa.

"I'm not!" Yoichi yelled in his defense.

Shinoa smiled. "You saw two in one day, within only a matter of minutes," she justified her own statement.

Yoichi's face just turned even more pink as he held up his hands, trying to make a physical defense against the verbal attacks from Shinoa. "I-It's not like that!" he stuttered. "I-I didn't mean to see them!"

"You saw Kimizuki's too?" Yuu asked, being the first to catch on. He smiled victoriously at Kimizuki, feeling like he had gotten some of his revenge over the strawberry-haired guy.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to see anything!" Yoichi yelled, almost in an act of desperation.

"That aside," Guren interrupted, figuring their conversation was getting enough off topic. "You need to find your magical abilities. We have several common powers, but I figure I will try and see if you three can handle some of the greater ones."

Yuu looked up, completely captivated by Guren's last words. "Really!" he yelled "Alright!"

Shinoa eyed Guren, but said nothing. All the boys seemed to get excited from the news and she wouldn't destroy their happiness with minor details. She would have to trust that Guren had gotten everything covered. Besides, she wouldn't mind having three powerful boys on her squad. It would give her team an advantage over others; a head-start one could call it.

They walked out the office and to the rarely used elevator. It seemed most people preferred the stairs. This was only used when people were to reach the bottom floor below the basement. No stairs led that far down. Also, only few people had access.

Despite being a member of the head family, Shinoa didn't have access. Guren had though. He hit the button and the elevator doors opened, allowing the five of them to step inside. He then demanded for it to go to the bottom floor and the doors closed back up.

"Where are we going?" Yuu asked out in the elevator.

"To the bottom floor." Shinoa stated the obvious fact. "We will get your special powers from down there," she informed them further.

"What's it like?" Yuu asked, leaning a bit closer to Shinoa.

"I wonder…" Shinoa trailed off while getting a distant look. "I have never been there myself. It has been forbidden area to most for about eight years now."


	9. Powers

The elevator hit the bottom floor and the doors opened, revealing a dark area to them. Shinoa scanned the place with curiosity. As mentioned, she had never been there before, and she would most likely never get the chance to come back down here.

This place had a certain feel to it. Shinoa couldn't find the exact words to describe it, but it was a feeling that send chills running down her spine. Something dark was hiding down here. She didn't know what it was though.

"So, what's special about these stronger powers?" Yuu asked Guren.

Guren thought of a way to explain it. "Well… all powers have a will of their own. They feed from human desire, the strongest wish you have, deep inside your heart. They know it even if you don't."

"You speak of the powers as if they are people," Kimizuki stated.

Guren smiled. "That's not entirely false. Our magical special abilities communicates with us too at times. I have one from this collection too, and they are being super noisy."

"Then what is so special about ours?" Yuu repeated his question.

"They are stronger when attacking, but they are also harder to handle. They are stronger and better at finding your deepest desire. They can take better advantage of it, but once you are in sync you will be among the strongest with no training."

"You still need training in order to control your powers and fight with them though," Shinoa added.

"That sucks!" Yuu said in a complaining tone.

They walked across a gigantic hall and reached a set of black heavy doors. In Shinoa's opinion they could have written 'keep out' all over the doors and it wouldn't have made a difference. Somehow she didn't wish to enter that room.

However, she didn't have a choice since Guren was already unlocking the door. He pushed it open as if it was as light as feathers. He walked in with an attitude like he owned the place and waited until the teens had followed him before he spoke.

"I don't want to spent all day introducing you to this new thing, so I'll explain it briefly," Guren said. "You see the weapons lying around?" He showed the weapons with his hand. There were seven in total. Among them were a katana, a bow, and other things that Shinoa wasn't even sure if she could name. "Each of these weapons hold some special power inside," Guren explained.

"So what do we do?" Yuu asked.

"Simply grab a weapon and enter the white circle on the floor," Guren said. "By touching the weapon, you will get into contact with the power and your battle begins. If you win, you will be in control of the power and weapon."

"Sounds simple enough," Yuu smiled.

"What happens if we lose?" Kimizuki asked.

"One of two things," Guren explained. "Either the power will take control of you, or it will simply crush you, causing your death. Hold on, if it takes control of you, I might have to kill you since you will kill everyone else if I don't, so that means you die either way."

"So that means… you die either way…" Yoichi said insecurely.

"So what," Yuu smiled as he walked up to the katana. "I'm not scared. In fact, I find this exciting." He stopped in front of the katana. "Let's get this started!"

Yoichi and Kimizuki each picked a weapon to stand in front of as well. At the same time they grabbed a hold of it and entered the white circle on the floor.

Shinoa stood by Guren's side and watched as this all happened. She was excited to see how this played out, but perhaps also a little worried if it went wrong, but if Guren had said go for it, then it should be okay, right? If it wasn't, then she would just have to think of it as the way the system worked.

All three boys were lying on the floor, illuminated by the bright light that was coming from the circles. They had fallen unconscious as soon as they had made contact with the powers. Shinoa tried to remember what it had been like for her when she got into contact with Shikama Douji.

* * *

It hadn't been so long after her awakening. Actually it had only been a matter of months if she remembered correctly. It was Jujou Mito and Guren's subordinate, Yukimi Shigure, who had been with her at the time. Guren had been sick due to some prank Shinya and Goshi had pulled on him the day before and Sayuri was taking care of him. Originally, it had been Guren's job to watch over her ceremony.

Mito had given Shinoa about the same instructions as Guren had just given the three boys. Shinoa had then picked the scythe and made contact with it.

Shikama Douji had shown her a scene of the night of her awakening. It was on the battle field. She had been with Shinya and watched Guren talk to Mahiru. Suddenly Guren and Shinya were gone and Mahiru approached. But Shinoa knew right away that it wasn't her older sister. She knew it was the power within the weapon.

"Don't you wish to help me?" Mahiru had said with a soft expression on her face.

"You're not my sister," Shinoa said stubbornly. "You are just the power within this weapon, creating an illusion."

"Oh, you're no fun," Mahiru smiled. "But you can take revenge on those who killed me, don't you want that?" she asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "I don't desire anything," she said.

A frown appeared on Mahiru's face. Shinoa mimicked the expression. This was so much unlike Mahiru.

"You are strong." Mahiru transformed into another person. "I will surrender to you, Hiragi Shinoa. My name is Shikama Douji. Call for me, and I will lend you my strength and abilities."

Shinoa nodded and that was when she awoke.

Mito had told Shinoa that she had only been out for 15 to 20 minutes. How long had it been now since Yoichi, Kimizuki and Yuu entered their circles, 25 minutes, half an hour?

* * *

Shinoa and Guren awaited in silence.

"Aren't they slow?" Shinoa asked.

"You're worried?" Guren didn't look at Shinoa. He continued to observe the boys. He didn't let any expressions show on his own face. "They have only passed average for regular weapons."

"So I was actually faster than you to get a connection, and I was so much younger," Shinoa smiled, mocking Guren a bit as she did so.

"This one is strong." Guren summoned his own sword. "It took me an hour."

"You're so slow, Guren," Shinoa smiled.

"You're so annoying," Guren answered.

There was no more time for chit-chat. The light in Kimizuki's circle was getting dimmer now and when it was finally out, he sat up and looked around.

"So I won," he stated.

"Do you feel like killing anyone?" Shinoa asked.

"Why would I?" Kimizuki narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yup, you won," Shinoa smiled. "Guren is slow."

"Don't decide that before the others are up," Guren muttered.

They waited for about five more minutes before the light in Yuu's circle dimmed and he too sat up, a smile on his face.

"Hah, I beat ya," he said, looking at the blade he was holding.

Shinoa eyed Guren, the mocking smile appeared on her face again, to Guren's irritation. What pissed him even more off was Kimizuki's words to Yuu.

"You're slow."

"You're already awake?" Yuu asked.

"Stupid question," Kimizuki snorted at him.

Then Yuu looked around. "What about Yoichi?" he asked.

"He hasn't come back yet," Shinoa said.

All three teens then looked to the circle where Yoichi was lying. It looked as if he was sleeping. One couldn't tell what kind of battle was going on inside, but they all knew that he was fighting.

* * *

 **Because I screwed up earlier this week, I'm publishing two chapters today, meaning both chapter 9 and chapter 10 will be out.**


	10. Gekkouin

**Double Chapter Today!**

 **Go one chapter back!**

* * *

It had been a little over an hour since they had entered the circles and made contact with their weapons. Shinoa had kept tabs on the time though all this time. Her concern for Yoichi was increasing. The same applied to Yuu and Kimizuki. Only Guren seemed not to care.

"Is he ever going to wake up?" Yuu asked.

Just then the green lights disappeared from Yoichi's circle. It went fast, as if someone had flipped a switch and turned it off. Then both Yoichi and the weapon were missing.

"Yoichi-san!" Shinoa yelled. She had noticed a shadow pass by them almost as soon as the lights went out. She then felt someone breathe behind her.

"Stupid girl," Yoichi said. "Stupid, stupid girl."

"Get away from her, Yoichi!" Yuu called. "You don't want to hurt her!"

Shinoa turned to Yoichi. "What do you want?" she asked, knowing Yoichi wasn't in there. His powers had taken over and were now in control. She was communicating with the power.

"Hmm… I'm not sure… taking over the world doesn't sound like a bad idea though …"

"Who are you anyway?" Shinoa asked.

"My name is Gekkouin," the power answered through Yoichi's mouth.

"The legendary power of the archer," Guren said. "Can hit anything they set their mind on hitting as long as the position of the target is known."

Yoichi looked at Guren. "And who are-" he cut himself off and jumped away. "Stay back!" He yelled, raising the bow and taking aim at Guren.

"You are not shooting Guren!" Shinoa yelled as she activated Shikama Douji, lend its powers, and prepared to defend Guren.

"Yeah, maybe it's better if the three of you eliminate him," Guren said calmly.

"How can you say it like that!?" Yuu yelled.

"I just can," Guren answered, crossing his arms.

Yoichi's eyes scanned the three in front of him. "Three humans to kill," he said. "Should be easy."

Yuu frowned. "Yoichi, wake up!"

"Yoichi?" Yoichi asked. "Not here. I'm Gekkouin. I told you that. Didn't I?"

"Shut up!" Yuu yelled. "Let Yoichi go!"

Shinoa tightened her grip around Shikama Douji. "Yuu-san, we have to give up, Yoichi-san has been lost," she said in a saddened tone, really believing Gekkouin's words.

"I refuse to believe he is gone!" Yuu yelled before he used his sword to deflect the arrows Gekkouin shot at them, while using Yoichi's body. "Yoichi is still in there and we can save him if that's what we want!" he yelled.

Shinoa also defended Gekkouin's attack by using Shikama Douji to block it. She then charged forward without thinking anything through and wrapped her arms around Yoichi.

"Yoichi-san, hear me, come back!" she called.

Yuu came too and wrapped his arms around both Shinoa and Yoichi, from the other side of Yoichi's body.

"Yoichi, come back," he said, slightly demanding.

Shinoa looked up in time to see Yoichi blink and the evil glow that had been in his eyes since he woke up as Gekkouin disappeared.

"Yuu-kun… Shinoa-san?" he asked as he saw both of them and felt their arms wrapped around his body.

"Yoichi, do you remember?" Yuu asked as he and Shinoa let go of Yoichi in the same time.

Yoichi nodded once, and then tears started streaming down his face.

"Well, now that that's over with, you better get your training started," Guren said.

Yuu looked up with interest. "Training?" he asked.

Guren nodded with a knowing smile. "Yeah, training to become ready for the battle field. Shinoa will help," he said, gesturing towards Shinoa who now stood like nothing had happened. She looked at Yuu's disappointed face.

"Did you seriously think we would get to fight right away?" She asked in a scornful tone. "You sure are eager to get yourself killed."

"I don't want to get killed," Yuu said. "I just want to protect those I care about."

"Does that include me?" Shinoa asked.

Yuu thought. "You, Yoichi, Mika, even four-eyes over there," he said, eyeing Kimizuki who didn't respond at all. In fact he gave off an impression that he couldn't care less about things like that.

"I'm honored," Shinoa said.

"So Yuu-kun sees us as friends?" Yoichi asked.

Yuu smiled. "Yeah, I guess I do .."

"Get them trained," Guren ordered Shinoa as they headed for the elevator. "One week from now, I will have a new squad member for you and you will be training all five together," he said. "I will also start giving you simpler missions by then."

"All right!" Yuu yelled while slamming his fist into the air of excitement.

"It does sound exciting, right, Kimizuki-kun?" Yoichi turned to the strawberry-haired to have him engage in the conversation as well.

"I'm not that eager to go on missions," Kimizuki said.

"If you succeed on the first mission, I might give you something other than money as a reward," Guren said. "There is a virus created by an extinguished organization called the Hyakuya Church. It is very dangerous and some kids your age are infected. We can provide you with the medicine," he said.

Kimizuki then stopped.

"Hyakuya?" Yuu asked.

"It's obvious they have had contact with you, Yuu," Guren said as he reached the elevator. The four teens had stopped a little behind him. None of them moved a muscle. Only Shinoa looked between all three boys and Guren.

"What about Kimizuki-kun and I?" Yoichi asked.

"Probably you too," Guren said. "In any case, I'd want to get it if I were you. You could be infected and not know it."

Yuu and Yoichi both nodded as they walked to the elevator. The doors had opened and they walked in with Guren.

Shinoa walked up to Kimizuki, who was still standing and staring into space. He was clearly lost in his own thoughts and being deaf to the world around him. Shinoa placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"You are thinking about your sister, right?" she asked.

Kimizuki looked at her, then he nodded. "yeah," he said.

"Just come train with us, she'll be fine until we get the medicine." Shinoa tried to comfort him. She looked up to meet his eyes with an innocent look.

Kimizuki nodded, finally, as her words sunk in. Then the two of them walked to the elevator and entered. Guren hit the button ordering the elevator to go back upwards, to the floor where the training halls were located.

The elevator doors shut and they were taken to that floor. It only took minutes before the doors opened again. Guren stepped aside, allowing the teens to go out first.

"Enjoy your training," he said. "Don't let them go home too late," he informed Shinoa.

"Don't worry, I won't," Shinoa assured in a sugar-sweet tone. Then the elevator doors closed again, hiding Guren from their view and Shinoa turned to her team.

"Well," she said. "Let's get started on combat training."


	11. Shinoa's Squad

"Okay!" Shinoa called out in the training hall on Sunday in the afternoon. "That's very good!" She had just released three Fourth Horsemen of John and had Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki go up against them. Needless to say these weren't the real thing of course. No one would be insane enough to do THAT, but the models looked very much like the real thing, and acted that way too.

"Can we take a break?" Yuu asked. He was heavily panting. The monsters were defeated and the three boys were all worn out.

"Stupid Yuu-san," Shinoa smiled sarcastically at him. "Do you think they, or the Kyuketsuki, will take a break just because you are a bit tired?"

"But we've been doing this for hours!" Yuu exclaimed.

"What a wimp," Kimizuki mumbled as he got up. He too had been too tired to stand for a shorter while, but now he was all good.

"Don't pretend like you're not worn out."

"Actually, you are the only one worn out, Yuu-kun," Yoichi said. He had been standing up all along.

"You're the one having it easy, Yoichi," Yuu snapped irritated.

"Okay," Shinoa said cheerfully. "Let's go get some drinks and then we go back to training."

All the boys were grateful as they followed Shinoa out the training hall and down the hallway, towards one of the vending machines they had placed a little further down there.

However, the four didn't make it far before they were stopped by Shigure who suddenly turned the nearest corner and blocked their path.

"Shinoa-san, Guren-sama requests your presence outside," Shigure said quickly. "Actually, he requested your entire squad."

"Already?" Shinoa asked. "I thought we would have until tomorrow, but seems I was wrong."

"What? We are going to fight now?" Yoichi asked.

"I've been waiting for this forever!" Yuu exclaimed in excitement. "It's like our final test!"

"If we make this…" Kimizuki trailed off with a thoughtful and hopeful expression. He stared ahead, but Shinoa had a feeling he wasn't seeing anything.

"Well, everyone." Shinoa looked at her squad mates. "Let's go." She then started heading towards the exit of the building.

"Hold on!" Yuu called out as he walked up to walk by her side. "What about our drinks?" he asked.

"Canceled. We don't have time," Shinoa answered in a slightly strict tone as she increased her pace towards outside. It wasn't a good idea to let Guren wait for them for too long when it was this important. It had to be important if he would call for them one day earlier than expected.

"Stupid Guren," Yuu mumbled irritated.

Shinoa found the fact that Yuu called Guren stupid a bit amusing, but she said nothing as they continued.

When they got outside, they could see Guren standing with a girl. Her hair was yellow and put up in pigtails. She glared as she laid eyes on the four approaching. More specifically, she glared at the girl in the middle who sent her a sarcastic, kind smile in return.

"I don't understand that you, Lieutenant Colonel Guren, could sign me up for a squad full of newbies and make that Shinoa Hiragi the leader!" Sanguu Mitsuba said irritated as she continued to glare at Shinoa's smiling face.

"Just face it Mi-chan," Shinoa said. "I have always been better than you. You may have been under training for longer than them, but I heard someone say that you tend to act without thinking, therefore I for one understand why you're not leader."

Mitsuba frowned. "Having to train some newbies of your own hasn't helped," she said.

"I doubt you haven't become stronger during the past two weeks, and you haven't grown either I see," Shinoa said, pointing out Mitsuba's shorter legs.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Yoichi whispered to Yuu.

Yuu looked from Shinoa to Mitsuba. "I don't know …"

"They're girls," Kimizuki said. "It's no good to get involved."

"What are you three newbies whispering about?" Mitsuba yelled, causing both Yuu and Yoichi to jump slightly, and Kimizuki to move a lot quicker than usual. All were surprised at her yelling.

"As you may have already guessed," Guren started while placing a hand on Mitsuba's head. "Sanguu Mitsuba here will be your fifth squad member. She was the best we could find who had not been assigned to another squad."

Unlike the others, Mitsuba had been out on the battle field before. Once in a magical girl's training they would have to go on the battle field with another squad. Shinoa had been there when she was seven. Mitsuba was out last year. It was a simple task, but somehow, only Mitsuba returned from the mission. It took them a while to get it out of her what had happened. It turned out she had been acting without thinking and therefore she was given the punishment of not returning to the battlefield for three years.

"But Mi-chan," Shinoa said as she remembered this. "Your punishment hasn't run out."

"I don't care," Guren said. "Shinya should be talking to Kureto about calling off the suspension right now."

"Yeah, you would probably just fall asleep," Shinoa said

"I know not to lay down my guard in front of the enemy," Guren said as he looked annoyed at Shinoa. "Time is short so it's better to have two things done at once."

"So?" Shinoa asked. "I was wondering why you called for us one day before we were ready. I was hoping for at least so much time to finish preparing them."

"I'll get right to it then," Guren said, signaling for Shinoa and the three boys to come over and stand with Mitsuba.

Shinoa walked without hesitation, she was actually skipping rather than walking. Yuu, Kimizuki and Yoichi were a little slow to follow her. They weren't really sure.

As they were all gathered, Guren started explaining the situation to them with brief sentences.

"A Fourth Horseman of John is attacking in the North District. It is creating chaos and more are being attracted to the scene. Your task is to kill the one causing trouble, before it can attract too many of its kind," he said.

"Understood sir." Shinoa put on an ironic smile as she saluted Guren. "Is there any more important information?" she asked.

"There might be members of the Kyuuketsuki in the area. In fact we suspect they lured the thing there," Guren said. "If they should appear, don't engage in battle with them. Retreat immediately," he ordered.

Shinoa answered by performing the same gesture as before.

"Do you always have people salute you here?" Yuu asked Guren in a familiar manner.

"What?" Guren asked, tilting his head. It caused him to give off an impression that he didn't really care about the question, and also it really was unimportant.

"Because I'm not gonna salute you, stupid Guren."

"Eh?" Guren smiled. "So you say. Apparently Lieutenant Colonel is not the most respected title here. That would by my rank if this was an army anyway." He smirked. "It would be more wise to salute the real rulers of this place though."

A door slammed. Sayuri came running out. "Guren-sama! Sanguu Mitsuba has been allowed to enter the battlefield!" she called.

"Good, Tell Shinya he's slow!" Guren demanded, appearing to be in a good mood. Then he turned to Shinoa's squad. "That's it. Get out there," he demanded.

Shinoa turned to her now five-man squad. "You heard Guren, Let's go," she said before leading the way towards the North District.


	12. Medicine

Heading towards the North District wasn't easy. The closer Shinoa and her squad got to the area, the more people they found running the opposite direction of them. In the end they had to push through the masses to get to their destination.

However, it stopped suddenly as they reached the center of the area. There wasn't a single soul except the five of them.

"Good," she said as she turned to face forward.

"What's good?" Yuu asked.

"The fact that no one is here," Shinoa answered. "If someone were to get involved in the fighting, it could become a dangerous situation for everyone."

The three boys nodded. Mitsuba didn't react at all, but she knew of this already. To her it was something that came naturally.

"We need a plan of attack," Mitsuba said.

"Relax Mi-chan." Shinoa smiled at Mitsuba as she said those not so calming words. "I will figure something out along the way."

Mitsuba certainly didn't relax from Shinoa's words. She actually started to get more worried. She somehow wondered about how the newbies would do at a situation like this, with no plan of attack. She started figuring out a plan of her own, for the sake of the mission.

The five of them started heading further into the North District. It wasn't long before they heard the sound of something big moving.

"It's coming," Shinoa said. "Prepare yourselves. Mi-chan, transform."

Mitsuba nodded. At least it was something she was quick about. It was something the Sanguu family was known for. They were all among the fastest at transforming. Among the ranks of the Majika no Oni they were in fact the fastest.

She had transformed as they turned the corner, only a few seconds later, and stood in front of the Fourth Horseman of John.

"Yoichi-san, stay behind for backup," Shinoa said. "Yuu-san, go and attack first. Kimizuki-san, you join up once it has its full attention on Yuu-san. Mi-chan and I will step in if something happens."

"And I?" Yoichi asked.

"With backup I mean that you will use Gekkouin's powers if it is needed," Shinoa said. "We have no time to waste. Let's go."

Yuu nodded once and started running ahead. He reached out his hand and prepared to summon his powers.

"Lend me your power, Asuramaru!" he yelled as a katana materialized in his hand. He jumped up and swung the sword downwards, attempting to split the monster in two. Little did he know, with a monster as big and strong as this, it was literally impossible to split in two.

Yuu used his jumping power to jump above its head and land on the opposite side from the others. He was now out of their sight. The monster turned around as its back was towards them and it was facing Yuu, who appeared to be its only opponent.

"Kimizuki-san," Shinoa said, however it was needless since Kimizuki was already on his way and summoning his own powers.

"Lend me your power, Kiseki-Ou!" he called as the twin swords appeared in his hands. He didn't jump like Yuu had. He stayed on the ground and attacked the monster's legs.

"Yoichi-san, you better prepare," Shinoa said while watching as Yuu appeared again, jumping up once more to attack from the top. In the same time he watched Kimizuki.

"Can they defeat it just the two of them?" Mitsuba asked while she was also watching the fight.

Shinoa thought back at their training sessions through this past week, since she had started training them. She thought about how they had progressed and become stronger for each passing hour. She had truly been impressed by their abilities to use their weapons, become stronger and learn so quickly.

"They should be able to handle it. They have defeated three of the copies at once," she said.

"You know the copies don't even have half the strength of the real thing," Mitsuba said coldly.

"Really?" Shinoa asked. The sarcastic tone was crystal clear in her voice. She had obviously known, but not told them that.

"At least it's not my fault if they die," Mitsuba mumbled.

The monster then swung back its arm and hit Kimizuki, sending him flying into the nearest wall. It cracked and he slid down to the ground.

Yuu's head snapped in Kimizuki's direction in an instant. "Kimizuki!" he called before jumping over to his comrade, who was lying on the ground. "Oi, Kimizuki, are you awake!?"

"Fool." Kimizuki looked up at Yuu. "It takes more than that to knock me out." He sat up. "Our reward is medicine for the virus running around," Kimizuki said as he stood up straight and watched as Mitsuba singlehandedly kept the monster away from them. Shinoa and Yoichi were still standing, though Yoichi had summoned Gekkouin and taken aim on the monster.

"So?" Yuu asked. "We're not sick, at least not yet."

"Maybe we aren't, but what if our relatives-" At this, Kimizuki cut himself off. He realized he had allowed himself to open up way too much to this overconfident squad mate of his.

"Someone in your family is sick?" Yuu asked.

"So what?" Kimizuki asked.

"If we all get medicine, I'm giving mine to your sister," Yuu said, a smile appeared on his face.

"Idiot, we all need it," Kimizuki said.

"Then I'll give it to you, because you need to be with her. She would be sad if you died because you donated your medicine to her," Yuu said.

Kimizuki wanted to say something back, probably tell Yuu to keep his medicine for himself, but Yuu had already taken off and run to join Mitsuba in landing attack on the Fourth Horseman of John they were supposed to be fighting.

"Idiot," Kimizuki therefore just mumbled before he joined the two.

Holding off the monster wasn't easy. Luckily Mitsuba knew where its weak spot was and she and Yuu worked together to keep it open.

"Kimizuki!" Yuu called.

Kimizuki nodded and ran to kill the Fourth Horseman of john with a quick attack. After that, it was over. The thing collapsed on the middle of the street and Mitsuba, Yuu and Kimizuki stood and stared by its side.

It was finally over now. They had completed their first mission and would get their reward once they returned. Now all that was actually left was the retreat.

"Man, that was awesome," Yuu said, his mouth opened in a wide smile as he looked at Mitsuba, Yoichi, Shinoa and Kimizuki, in that order. The others could do nothing but agree. It felt good to have accomplished something as a team, for the first time.

* * *

 **I'm very happy that this story is being read by some and that some are even following the story and has even favorited. However, if some of you would take the time to leave a review I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.**

 **Jackie**


	13. Kyuuketsuki Attack

Everyone felt relieved, now that everything was over and done with. They had completed their first mission and could now go back and receive their reward. Shinoa smiled at all her friends. She felt really proud of them.

However, as the five of them started heading back, Shinoa felt like they had forgotten a very important detail. She remembered that Guren had said something important she had to remember, but she couldn't recall what it was, no matter how hard she thought about it.

"What are you going to do when we come back, Yuu-kun?" Yoichi asked Yuu.

"Don't know. I'll probably go straight home, have Mika's delicious curry and go to bed," Yuu said as he placed his hands behind his neck, giving off a relaxed impression.

Shinoa felt a bad taste in her mouth as she saw this. Was she getting worried because her friends were relaxing? That wasn't like her!

"What about you, Yoichi?" Yuu asked.

"Nothing much," Yoichi answered. "I'll just go home and study for tomorrow's test."

"We have a test?" Yuu asked in shock.

Yoichi nodded. "In Japanese," he answered.

Yuu looked like a kid who just had his favorite piece of candy taken away from him before he got to have any. "Mika's gonna keep me up all night…"

Yoichi smiled at this. "Don't worry, Yuu-kun." He tried to comfort his friend.

"Guys?" Shinoa raised a hand, silencing both Yuu and Yoichi. She thought she had heard something, but now a deafening silence was surrounding them.

"What is it?" Kimizuki asked.

"Stay on guard," Shinoa said in a slightly nervous tone. "Something's coming."

And at that, three people landed in front of them, blocking the way out of the North District. The one in the middle was male, while the ones on either side of him were female.

It was then that Shinoa remembered Guren's warning, that there might be people from the Kyuuketsuki behind this attack, and therefore they would have to be aware. Of course, Shinoa had forgotten about this and allowed her squad to relax. This had been what the Kyuuketsuki were waiting for.

"Everyone, prepare," Shinoa said. She was grateful none of them had transformed back yet.

"Are these from the Kyuuketsuki?" Yuu asked, as he did as Shinoa had ordered.

Shinoa nodded. "More specifically, they are all of high ranking, which makes them extremely dangerous," she explained.

Mitsuba nodded at Shinoa's words and focused on the three people.

"We might have to use the powers in order to just pass them," Shinoa said. "Everyone, prepare for a tough battle," she said.

"Are they scared because we are here?" The man in the middle asked.

"Crowley-sama, these aren't that weak. You need to take care," one of the females said.

"I know," the man – Crowley – said like he didn't really care about her words.

Both sides prepared to attack, and as expected, Crowley and his female followers were the first to attack. Shinoa and the rest of her squad patiently waited for them to come, before all of them asked for their powers and activated them in time to block the attack. Yoichi was the only one who fell back, to a position where he had a good view of what was going on.

Everyone fought as bravely as they could. Yuu went up against Crowley, Shinoa against one of the females, and Mitsuba and Kimizuki were up against the other one.

"So you think it's easy to beat us or what?" Crowley asked Yuu as their swords were locked. Apparently Crowley used the same type of weapon as Yuu did. It seemed most Kyuuketsuki did that in fact.

"When you know how to do, it's not that hard," Yuu said, smiling at the way stronger opponent, like the idiot he is.

He then attacked Crowley with his sword, but the Kyuuketsuki man blocked the attack and went to attack for himself. Yuu jumped backwards to avoid it, but was cut.

Shinoa was at the losing side of her own battle. Her opponent had her pinned against the wall, and in the same time used her for cover, as Yoichi would have a hard time hitting her, without hitting Shinoa as well.

Mitsuba was being pinned down by the other woman while she was holding Kimizuki's neck in a tight grip, making him unable to breathe.

"You're cocky," Crowley told Yuu before jumping above his head as he stood by Yoichi's side. He leaned down. "Should we show you why we are called Kyuuketsuki?" he asked. He eyed both the women, and they moved a bit. The one with Shinoa pulled at her shirt, as her shoulder was revealed. The other loosened her grab around Kimizuki's neck and also pulled at his clothes, as his skin was exposed. They both prepared to bite. Crowley did the same with Yoichi.

"Stop!" Yuu yelled. He suddenly seemed to find himself at a loss of what to do. He looked between each of his captured friends.

"Crowley-sama!" another voice came from behind Yuu. "Ferid-sama is requesting your presence right away." Everyone looked to see another female Kyuuketsuki of lower ranking stand and watch the scene with awaiting eyes.

"That's too bad," Crowley said in a tone that really did sound like he meant it. He looked at the women. "Let's go," he said before letting go of Yoichi, allowing him to fall to the ground.

The females too let go of their captives and walked away along with their master. Shinoa couldn't help but feel as if they had been a little too lucky, but she wasn't complaining.

As soon as the Kyuuketsuki were out of sight, Shinoa turned to her squad. She was really relieved that they had all survived.

"I'm sorry about what has happened today," she said. "I have failed as a leader and I will of course be responsible for anything they may accuse us for," she said, bowing to them.

Everyone were standing as if frozen for a bit, then Yuu walked up and patted Shinoa on the shoulder for comfort. He smiled confidently at her.

"Don't worry about it, Shinoa," he said. "You did your best."

Shinoa smiled back, a real smile with no sarcasm. "I guess I did," she said. Then she looked down and noticed blood coming from Yuu's side. "Yuu-san!" she yelled.

Yuu looked down at the injury as well. "Huh?" he asked. "When did that happen again?"

"I guess during your fight against that guy, Crowley," Yoichi said helpfully.

"We should have you checked," Shinoa said worriedly.

Yuu shrugged. "There's no need, I'm all right. It's not even that deep," he said.

Shinoa wasn't sure if she believed it, but Yuu really didn't seem to be bothered by it. She would have to accept his answer and leave it be for now. This wouldn't prevent her from keeping an eye on Yuu though.

"Then, let's go back," she told everyone, before leading the way back out of the North District to the base where Guren was waiting for them, without a doubt.

* * *

 **Since I'll be gone for a few days I'm uploading two chapters today. The next update is on Saturday**

 **Jackie**


	14. Rewarding Effort

**Double Chapter Today!**

 **Please go one back**

* * *

Indeed Guren had been waiting for them. They found him in his office where he had been sitting behind his desk until the five of them entered. He looked up at them.

"So you made it back alive." A sarcastic smile appeared on his face and Yuu wondered if Shinoa had infected him.

"Of course we did," Shinoa answered in the same tone. "After all, they were led by me." an aura of confidence could be sensed around her.

"Did you successfully kill it?" Guren asked. He stood up from behind his desk and went to stand in front of it instead.

"Of course we did!" Yuu exclaimed with a wide smile.

"I was talking to the short Hiragi, not the idiotic brat," Guren answered while pulling an irritated expression at the unbelievable case that reminded him way too much of himself.

"You do realize I'm not short," Shinoa said. "If you want to call anyone short, then look at Mi-chan." She pointed out the shortest member of the group.

"Yeah, yeah." Guren didn't care if what he had said was right or wrong. To him it didn't matter who was short and who wasn't. He had to get back at Shinoa somehow, for teasing him so much. He couldn't find any better way to do it than her height.

"Anyway," Guren now changed the subject. "Did you run into any Kyuuketsuki?" he asked.

Shinoa hesitated before giving her reply. "We actually did," she said, looking a bit shamefully at her shoes. "We ran into three of high ranking in fact," she said.

Guren nodded. "Then I really am surprised you made it," he answered. "You'll write a report to me about how things went, Shinoa," he said to the squad leader. "And now that that's over with, I have your rewards."

Guren reached down and handed each of them a bottle of a greenish liquid. They were small. They could lie in Shinoa's palm easily.

"This is as good as a vaccine," Guren informed them. "Drink the content and you should be fine," he explained to them. "You're dismissed. Remember to transform back before you leave."

All five nodded and turned their backs to each other before they transformed back. They did this out of respect to their squad-mates. When transforming back, you could only see the pink cloud that was hiding your body from the others, and yet wasn't really hiding anything at all. After the first incident, Yuu still couldn't transform without blushing, due to this detail.

After they had transformed back to their normal selves, each of them accepted their medicine and headed out of the office together.

"Kimizuki," Yuu said as soon as the door closed behind them. As soon as the glasses-guy looked up, Yuu tossed his medicine bottle at him and Kimizuki caught it, not letting the surprise he felt show on his face.

"Wow, Yuu-san is very generous," Shinoa smiled at Yuu.

"Yeah right," Yuu said.

"Take it back," Kimizuki demanded.

"As I said before, your family would be sad if you died because you spend your medicine on them," Yuu said as a response.

"What about yourself, Yuu-kun?" Yoichi asked.

Yuu smiled cheerfully. "Mika and I will manage fine without medicine," he declared.

"That reminds me," Shinoa said. "I got my vaccine when I turned 13, so I don't need this." She handed her bottle to Yuu. "What about you, Mi-chan?"

Mitsuba nodded. "I got my vaccine around the same age," she answered before she too handed her medicine over to Yuu.

"Why do you both give it to me?" Yuu asked while giving the two bottles in his hand a confused look. Then he looked back up at the girls.

Shinoa was the one to answer, because she was the only one who knew. "Because you donated your medicine to Kimizuki-san, and because you have Mika-san as well."

"But then, what about Yoichi?" Yuu asked.

Yoichi smiled. "I've been living on my own for years now," he said

Yuu looked confused. "Didn't you once say you have a sister?" he asked.

Yoichi shook his head. "I said I had a sister," he corrected.

"Anyways, you should all go home," Shinoa interrupted the conversation. "Yoichi-san and Yuu-san will have school tomorrow and then it's over. From then on, you are expected to show up here every day."

Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki nodded.

"Now," Shinoa smiled at them. "Please go home and we'll see you on the day after tomorrow." She walked down the hallway with Mitsuba in toe. She heard as the boys left in the opposite direction.

* * *

Mitsuba and Shinoa were in the showers. They had to wash the sweat off their bodies. No matter if you were a magical girl or just an ordinary girl, you would always sweat during physical activity. For this reason, there were shower rooms near every training hall, both for men and women. Shinoa and Mitsuba were currently using the only all-female shower room. It was located in another part of the building, owned more by the Majika no Oni than the Majika no Tsuki. This was a floor, only for magical girls and females working with the organization.

"I never imagined we would be put on a squad together," Mitsuba said, starting the conversation.

"Oh?" Shinoa smiled at this. "I certainly didn't either, but honestly, I'm happy it's you and not some grown-up stuck up serving the Hiragi family," she said.

"Aren't you a Hiragi yourself?" Mitsuba asked.

"Because of my genius sister, I have never really belonged to the Hiragi family," Shinoa said.

Mitsuba didn't know how to get back at Shinoa on that one, so she stayed silent for now, until Shinoa started speaking to her.

"What do you think of the boys in our squad?" she asked.

"They're a bunch of newbies, they don't know what they're doing, especially Hyakuya," Mitsuba said.

"Uh? Are you in love, Mi-chan?" Shinoa asked while peaking at Mitsuba in the showers.

"No I'm not!" Mitsuba declared while blushing madly. "And would you stop looking in here!"

Shinoa giggled. "What harm does that do?" she asked before running in to Mitsuba in the shower to annoy her as best as she could, while Mitsuba did her best to push Shinoa off.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, two men were discussing an important matter at hand. They were sitting in a mansion in the very center of town, owned by the Kyuuketsuki queen, Krul Tepes. These men were Ferid Bathory and Crowley Eusford.

"I heard you ran into some magical girls today," Ferid said. "They weren't causing any trouble?"

"Actually …" Crowley looked out at the town through the window. "There were three boys and only two girls among them," he said.

"So?" Ferid tilted his head.

"Nothing much. We would have killed them if it weren't for you calling for us," Crowley answered.

Ferid nodded once. "I see, that's a shame." An amused smile played on his lips.

"Ferid Bathory?" The owner of the mansion, Krul Tepes, came walking down the hallway. She was sending little, dangerous, but also aware looks at Ferid.

"My, Krul, how rare it is to see you on this floor," Ferid said with a faked smile on his face as he stood up to greet her. "What may I do for you on this beautiful night, my queen," He bowed much deeper than policy craved of him.

"Drop the sarcasm Ferid," Krul said coldly. "Have you found someone with the required power?" she asked.

Ferid smiled as he shook his head. "Not yet," he said.

"Liar." Krul looked at him, strictly. "You were spotted in town today, with a blonde teenage boy of just the right age," she accused. "Don't tell me that was nothing." The tone in her voice was so sharp it could cut through about anything. Crowley wished to leave, but Ferid didn't seem to be affected by this.

"Oh, you're talking about Mika-kun?" he asked. "He is nothing more than a human with delicious blood."

"Is that so?" Krul asked.

"It is so," Ferid answered with that smile on his face.

Krul didn't answer that. She had a feeling Ferid was lying to her face, but she didn't say a thing about it. She would investigate this matter on her own, since Ferid was as trustworthy as a stray cat.

* * *

 **Since I'll be gone for the next two days, I've uploaded two chapters today. The next chapter will be uploaded on Saturday**

 **Jackie**


	15. Mysterious

Shinoa picked up the little spoon that went along with the huge ice cream she had ordered today. After her first visit to the café across the street from the local high school, she had become fond of whatever they could serve.

She was staring at the street, on the people passing by outside. It had become a habit of hers to come here and observe the people walking outside since Yoichi and Yuu had stopped going to school and they, along with Kimizuki, had started receiving special training from Guren. Shinoa would have loved to watch, but Guren had demanded that no one came to disturb them. Apparently Shinoa was very disturbing and distracting. Now why was that again?

Shinoa got herself a spoonful of her ice cream. Today she had picked vanilla and caramel with a single strawberry on top. This was a good thing about this place. You could pick just about any ice cream you wanted and then have it served. She had tried out just about every flavor the place had to offer. She could invite all her friends here and help them order something good if that was what they wanted.

As Shinoa started eating her ice cream, slowly, her mind started drifting.

She didn't know why, but suddenly she started to think about her sister, Hiragi Mahiru. She thought about how strange it was that Mahiru had died so many years ago. It wouldn't be long now before Shinoa would be older than her sister had been when she died.

It was strange how Mahiru's name had become like a taboo after her death. Now that Shinoa thought about it, not even Guren had mentioned her in all this time, at least not where others could hear him. Shinoa had only heard him speak to Shinya about her a couple of times in privacy, and at those occasions she was very sure it was Shinya who had brought her up.

Shinoa had learned not to mention her sister and her mysterious death on the battle field. To her, this too had been very strange, seeing as it wasn't uncommon for magical girls or boys to die on the battlefield. She knew they were still talking about her own mother, and the guys Mitsuba had been out with, who had all died. But then why weren't they talking about Mahiru.

It wasn't really fair in Shinoa's opinion. All magical boys and girls had a tough life. Mahiru's path was in fact much similar to a magical boy's. Because she was from the main house, a member of the Hiragi family, she had to become a magical girl as soon as her powers awoke. Mahiru had awoken at the age of five. Shinoa didn't know the full story, but she knew that it was because people were making things happen against Mahiru's will. She also had a feeling Guren had been involved, but he had always been able to avoid her questions when she asked.

Now one may even wonder why Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki didn't have an awakening scene. This is because their abilities has awoken somewhere along the way, they just had yet to be activated. As soon as ones abilities awake, they are being detected by either the Majika no Oni or Majika no Tsuki. It could also be both who discovered them. The activation could happen on its own, like it did with Mahiru and Shinoa, driven by a desire to do something that wasn't humanly possible, or it could happen as it had happened with the three boys, in a calm manner and under control, just because they were ready.

Shinoa took another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and quickly realized there was a huge piece of caramel on it. This delighted her. This meant it was good caramel ice cream.

She looked down at the ice cream to see that it had melted some. She had spent too long in her own thoughts. She started stirring the ice cream. If it had to melt like that, she could as well just mix it all together. Vanilla ice cream wasn't really her favorite anyway.

It was while stirring the ice cream that she happened to look out at the window again and noticed that school had just ended. She saw Mika walking out of the school gates.

"That's Mika…" She barely noticed as the words left her lips. She stared at the boy who was related to Yuu. He appeared to be looking for someone in the crowd of people, but she couldn't figure out who it could be.

It wasn't until she noticed a man approaching Mika out of the corner of her eye that she became aware that Mika's attention had already landed on him. The man was waving at Mika while smiling brightly. Mika didn't seem to respond to that.

The man approaching Mika was a very beautiful looking man. Shinoa would have to give him that much. He had long silver hair and notable red eyes. Especially the eyes were something Shinoa noted. She remembered that the Kyuuketsuki guy from the North District, Crowley was his name, had had red eyes as well. So had the one of his aids who had been fighting against Shinoa.

Shinoa's view was blocked by a couple who stopped right in front of the window to look at the menu that was inconveniently placed close to where Shinoa was sitting. They kept standing for a while and discussing something, possibly if they should go in or not, and then decided on the latter. When they were gone, Mika and the strange guy were gone too and Shinoa had no idea where they had disappeared to.

Maybe the guy was just a friend of Mika's. She really shouldn't bother with this matter, but she had that feeling that something wasn't right. Maybe it was the way Mika hadn't greeted the strange guy, or the way the strange guy had smiled. Maybe it was the fact that they had met right after Mika finished school.

Shinoa sighed. This matter was problematic, at least in her opinion. It would be even worse if Yuu didn't know any of this. Wait, why was she thinking like this?

Shinoa sighed. She decided to leave this for now, but still keep an eye out for Yuu's blonde housemate.

With these things settled, Shinoa decided that it was time to finish up the ice cream and go back to annoy Guren some more, and maybe torture her teammates for a bit while she was at it.


	16. Another Mission

Guren smiled satisfied as Shinoa entered the office. He was standing there with Yuu, Kimizuki and Mitsuba in front of him. Yuu too waved as she entered, and she couldn't help but smile at this.

"There you are," Guren said. "Now it's only Yoichi missing."

"What's going on?" Shinoa asked.

"I have a mission for you," Guren said.

"Where's Yoichi-san?" Shinoa asked.

"I sent him off to train with Shinya. Apparently they share the same type of weapon or something." Shinoa remembered that Shinya's weapon was also meant for long-distance combat. So was Yoichi's. It did make sense.

Just then, the door opened and Shinya entered with Yoichi in toe. He was all smiles as he saw Guren and he went to sit on the couch he usually sat on to piss off Guren.

"You were just asked to deliver and leave," Guren said while glaring at Shinya.

"Huh? What'd you say?" Shinya asked even though he had clearly heard what Guren was saying.

Guren frowned. "Well at least you managed to make yourself useful for a change."

"I take that as a compliment," was Shinya's response.

Guren was irritated, and therefore decided to ignore this comment and turn to Shinoa instead, even though he found the two Hiragis evenly annoying. "Now that the whole squad is here, I'll fill you in on the mission," he said.

"Exciting," Shinoa smiled sarcastically. "What's it about?"

"A curse has been activated in the area near the shopping center. It has created a monster that has a thing for girls, meaning that it sees them as snacks."

"I'm glad you added the last part," Shinoa smiled. "Pervert Guren."

"What?" Guren asked, as if he hadn't heard what she was saying. "Anyways, get going, the curse is not going away by itself."

Shinoa nodded and looked at her squad-mates. "Let's go," she said before leading the way to the nearest shopping center.

"Shinoa," Yuu said once they were about half way to their destination. He had a questioning tone to his voice that Shinoa picked up on easily.

"What?" she asked.

"What does it mean that the monster isn't gonna slay itself, I mean, isn't it a curse?" Yuu seemed a bit confused about it all.

Shinoa smiled at her stupid friend. "Of course you hadn't realized, Yuu-san," she said, slightly amused. "From a curse, a monster is usually born. In order to lift the curse, you will have to slay the monster. The trick is that we can't use our strong power against them. They are able to communicate with the power and can turn it on us and destroy us, therefore we can only use minor attacks. Thankfully, that is usually enough to beat them," Shinoa explained.

"Uh… Okay…" Yuu said. "So I can't use Asuramaru against it," he concluded.

Shinoa nodded. "That's right. I can't use Shikama Douji either for that matter," she answered. "Guren should have taught you to use the regular powers."

Yuu nodded. "Yeah, normal attacks." Somehow he didn't sound too excited about the attacks.

"They're still struggling to master them," Mitsuba said coldly.

"Really? Then Guren can't have done such a great job," Shinoa said in an amused tone.

"Hey! Yoichi is worse off than we are!" Yuu yelled. "He hardly had any training in it."

Yoichi smiled. "I got the basics down, and Shinya-san had me practice the attacks I knew at least once a day," he explained.

"Seriously?" Yuu said.

"I know mine too," Kimizuki said. "You're the only one who doesn't."

"I never said I didn't!" Yuu tried to defend himself.

"Your face sure did," Shinoa smiled.

"We're nearing," Mitsuba reminded her then, and that was true.

By the entrance to the shopping center was a monster located. No one else was there. This was to be expected, no one wanted to be near a monster like that. Shinoa quickly looked at the situation and then demanded for all of them to transform.

The transformation went quickly. Mitsuba was first to finish, next came Yoichi, then Kimizuki and Yuu and finally Shinoa as the last one. They had apparently all learned the policies of transformation and closed their eyes as their transformation was over.

"I'm done," Shinoa said, allowing the others to open their eyes again.

"That's good," Yuu said. "Then what's the plan?"

Shinoa looked at the monster. "I guess I want to see what the three of you can do. Besides Guren mentioned it likes girls, so it's better if Mi-chan and I only fight if it is needed. The three of you, see if you can handle it."

The three boys nodded and jumped off, all at once. As expected, Yuu ran ahead of the others and was also the first to land an attack.

"Night Shadow!" Yuu yelled and punched the monster with a black shadow surrounding his fist. Apparently it seemed to work because the thing yelped.

"Lightning Flash!" Kimizuki yelled as he landed a strike of lightning on the monster's head.

"Sky Blow!" Yoichi yelled out before he punched the air, creating a huge wave of air that hit the monster hard.

"Kimizuki, Let's combine!" Yuu called.

Kimizuki snorted. "Who said he'd never use that?"

"I hate it, okay!" Yuu yelled. "But it's the only way, it's not affected by anything else."

Kimizuki sighed. Then he looked at Yoichi. "You out?" he asked.

"The Sky Blow is the only thing I can do as of now," Yoichi informed, as expected.

"Has Yuu-san changed?" Shinoa asked as she turned to Mitsuba.

The girl with the yellow pigtails nodded. "But it's not willingly, Guren told him to at least try and combine his attack once, or he wouldn't be taught anything more powerful."

Shinoa smiled. "That's so much like Yuu-san," she said.

Mitsuba shrugged. "He's just another idiot, obsessed with power," she said.

Shinoa laughed at this. "And you like him just like that, don't you Mi-chan?" she asked.

"I told you, I don't have any feelings like that for any of them," Mitsuba declared, embarrassed. "Much less now than earlier."

Shinoa was amused by this as she turned back to see Yuu and Kimizuki combine their attack.

"Moonless Night!" they yelled in unison and a black and white light was shot at the monster, causing it to disappear. Shinoa took this as her cue to come over and deactivate the curse.

"I'm correct to assume that you don't know how to deactivate a curse yet, right?" she asked, looking at the three boys and Mitsuba. All four of them shook their heads. This was something you could only learn during your last year of training, normally.

Shinoa smiled, and then went to locate the curse. It was placed at a corner, very close to the entrance of the shopping center. It was nothing more than a small piece of paper. It had specific symbols on it and she lifted it up to show it to the others.

"This is what a curse looks like," she said, before snapping her fingers. The curse was lit on fire and burned up to ashes. Shinoa blew them away.

"So… what now?" Yoichi asked as the first one, after they had been silent for a couple of minutes.

"Well," Shinoa said. "What do you say, Mi-chan and I treat the three of you to dinner as a thanks for completing the mission for us?" she asked.

Everyone agreed this was a good idea and Shinoa started leading the way, away from the shopping center entrance.


	17. Chicken Nuggets

Shinoa led the way towards the organization. She was cheerful as she headed there, but as they had walked half way, Guren decided it was about time to call them to "check up" as he said.

"Are you worried about me, Guren?" Shinoa asked in a sugar-sweet tone as she heard Guren's reason for calling her at a time like this.

"I'm more worried about the rest of your squad," Guren said.

"I'm actually a good leader," Shinoa declared.

"Yeah, yeah," Guren muttered. "Where are you now?"

"On our way back, I'm gonna cook tonight," Shinoa said happily.

"No, if you want to treat them to dinner or something like that, go out," Guren demanded.

"Will you treat us?" Shinoa asked.

"No," Guren answered.

"Then I'm coming," Shinoa threatened.

A bit of a muffled argument was suddenly heard and then another spoke on the phone. "Ah, Shinoa-chan," Shinya said. "Please go out and eat. I've heard there's a fast-food restaurant just in the area where you should be by now, it's really good."

"I don't have money," Shinoa said.

"Don't worry, Guren will happily pay the bill," Shinya said, to which an irritated sound could be heard in the background.

"Then I have no problem going," Shinoa said. "See you later." After Shinya responded to this, Shinoa hung up and looked at her surroundings. It wasn't long before her eyes landed on the fast-food restaurant he had talked about. She knew it. She had gone there a couple of times.

"What was that about?" Yuu asked.

Shinoa smiled. "We're going in there," She pointed at the fast food restaurant. "You can pick whatever you want and order as much as you like. Guren is paying everything."

"Did he say that?" Yuu asked in wonder.

"No," Shinoa smiled. "Shinya said he would."

"Is he going to get away with that?" Yoichi eyed the restaurant. Fast food wasn't exactly cheap to buy when you didn't have much.

"Well, we get it free, that's all that matters, isn't it?" Shinoa asked. "Either Guren pays, or Shinya pays, depending on what they decide." She said this, even though she knew there wouldn't be much deciding in the matter. It would depend more on who got his decision through.

"Well, I'm up for it," Yuu smiled as he started heading towards the entrance of the fast food restaurant.

"Wait, Yuu-kun!" Yoichi exclaimed in an unsure manner.

"Idiot," Kimizuki mumbled before following Yuu. Behind him, Shinoa and Mitsuba exchanged looks and followed, and Yoichi went in as the last one.

Inside the restaurant there was a crowd of people gathering around the counter. Yuu was trying to make his way up to the front, but since he apparently hadn't heard of something like a line before, he was constantly receiving angry glares from the others around him.

"This looks troublesome," Yoichi stated as he took in the surroundings. Shinoa nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"Don't cut the line, idiot," Kimizuki demanded as he went and grabbed Yuu by the shoulder and dragged him backwards. Shinoa used her hand to cover the amused smile that was appearing on her face from watching this scene.

"Well, Mi-chan and I will go stand in line," Shinoa said, gesturing for Mitsuba to follow her as she stood in line. The others followed shortly after.

"What's with the menu?" Yuu asked, while looking at the menus displayed above the counter. "What does all these things taste like?" he asked.

"Don't tell me you have never had fast-food before, Yuu-san," Shinoa said in a mocking tone.

"I haven't either," Yoichi said, as if trying to justify that it wasn't a bad thing.

"Do you think I have had money or time?" Kimizuki asked.

"Newbies," Mitsuba said. "Then you better come with as you can learn something," she said coldly.

Shinoa nodded. "Agreed. They should all come along."

And so, all five of them stood in line and waited until it was their turn. Shinoa and Mitsuba ordered first, since they already knew what they wanted. Then it was Yuu's turn as the first of the three boys.

"So… what's good?" he asked.

"What I ordered is good," Shinoa said.

"I don't like cheese," Yuu said.

"Well, my order isn't bad either," Mitsuba said.

"That doesn't look good," Yuu declared. He let his gaze trail over the menu until he found something he thought looked eatable. "What about that?" he asked.

"Chicken nuggets?" Shinoa asked. "If you want to go with that, it's up to you," she said.

Yuu smiled and declared that the chicken nuggets was exactly what he wanted, before leaving the hard choices to Yoichi and Kimizuki.

Surprisingly enough, the two latter were quicker at ordering than Yuu was and they could soon sit down with their meals and eat together.

Yuu opened the box with chicken nuggets and looked down at them. It looked really good. He picked up one and took the first bite. Judging from the pleasant look on his face, Shinoa easily determined that he enjoyed the food that he had ordered. Yoichi and Kimizuki, however, didn't let it show as much.

"Do you like it?" She asked them and looked from one to the other.

"It's good," Yoichi answered immediately.

"Yeah, I guess," Kimizuki answered.

They were silent for a bit before Mitsuba broke it with a question. "If you have never eaten fast food, then what do you normally eat?" she asked.

"I usually buy food from convenience stores," Yoichi said. "Since it's just me and I'm not very good at cooking, it's the best solution."

"I eat anything I decide to cook," Kimizuki said.

"You can cook, Kimizuki-san?" Shinoa asked in surprise.

"I just said so," Kimizuki answered.

"What about you, Yuu-kun?" Yoichi asked Yuu who was stuffing his face with chicken nuggets.

"What?" Yuu asked in a muffled voice due to the huge amount of chicken nuggets in his mouth.

"What do you normally eat?" Yoichi asked while smiling amused at Yuu's stuffed mouth. Shinoa imprinted the image in her mind to remember and laugh at whenever she felt like it.

"Oh," Yuu quickly swallowed the chicken nuggets in his mouth and spoke. "Usually we have curry at home. Mika makes it a lot because we both like it," he explained.

"Mika-san can cook?" Shinoa asked.

"Yeah, Mika's amazing!" Yuu exclaimed. "I might just invite you home to taste his curry someday. I'm sure he won't mind that."

"I'd love to," Shinoa said. Sure she would love to taste Mika's curry, as much as she would love to experience Kimizuki's cooking skills. But what she was more interested in was between Mika and that red-eyed guy she had seen earlier that same day.

* * *

 **I only just barely remembered to upload this before going to bed. I'm so forgetful!**

 **Anyways, I hope you're still enjoying the story. I noticed that it's got a few more favorites and follows since I last thought to look. That makes me happy. If you feel like it, please leave a review. I'd love to know what you think of this story.**

 **Jackie**


	18. Time to Shine

That same night Shinoa had managed to get herself a job out in town. It was a couple of men who should be selling little girls to organizations experimenting on magical children. Kureto had located their business somewhere downtown. He had allowed for Shinoa to only bring Mitsuba along instead of the entire squad. She hadn't been doing anything today anyway, besides watching the boys fight.

"What's going on?" Mitsuba asked as Shinoa knocked on the door to her room.

"We have a mission," Shinoa smiled secretively. "An important mission."

"Are we gonna get the others?" Mitsuba asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "It requires the ability to keep quiet, and with Yuu-san around, that's about the last thing things will be. Kimizuki-san has to take care of his sister and then it's only fair that we leave Yoichi-san out as well," Shinoa explained. "Besides, it requires a bit more experience, something all three of them lack."

"I don't have much either," Mitsuba answered.

"You know how things work, now I think I should fill you in on the mission," Shinoa said as she and Mitsuba walked down the hallway.

After filling Mitsuba in, they found themselves in front of a store that sold clothes and Shinoa dragged Mitsuba into this store and found her a cute, pink dress that was more suited for a 6 year old than Mitsuba, who was 10 years older.

"Put this on," Shinoa said in a demanding tone.

"No way." Mitsuba shook her head demonstratively. "I have never worn anything like that before."

"Then you should wear it," Shinoa smiled. "I'm sure you'd look so cute in it, Mi-chan."

"No way," Mitsuba repeated herself as she turned away from Shinoa.

"Haven't you learned not to turn your back on your enemy?" Shinoa giggled before she jumped on Mitsuba and forced her into the dress.

Despite Mitsuba struggling, Shinoa appeared to have a lot of fun. She even laughed as she paid the dress and dragged Mitsuba out the store. Even then, Mitsuba was still struggling.

"What are you planning anyway!" She yelled loudly as Shinoa dragged her down another street and suddenly stopped.

"Shut up, Mi-chan," Shinoa said. "We're here."

"Then what's the plan?" Mitsuba asked. "Don't tell me someone is gonna see me in this?" she pulled out in the dress a little bit while glaring at the pink fabric.

"You are," Shinoa said. "You'll act as bait as I can catch them in the act of selling magical girls. With that dress, your height and the pigtails, you could easily go for being younger than 13. 13 is the age of the eldest girl they are known to have sold."

"What if it goes wrong?" Mitsuba asked. "What if they succeed in selling me?" she asked.

"They don't," Shinoa smiled confidently. "I'm the one who came up with this plan after all," she said while pointing at herself. "Besides, I have never let anyone down before, and I don't plan on starting."

Mitsuba didn't consider Shinoa that reliable, but oh well, if she could prove her words to be true, then maybe Mitsuba would start believing in her reliability.

So Mitsuba ended up, somewhat, willingly acting as bait and have the men kidnap her. She stood outside the building where they were said to be and attempted to look as lost as she possibly could. Shinoa had hid behind a wall and was watching carefully as Mitsuba simply stood still and waited for the men to come get her. Shinoa's job was to watch where they took Mitsuba and follow, then wait until the right time before she would attack and save her friend. This would also be when Mitsuba would transform and they would both defeat these evil people.

Only while going over the plan, Shinoa remembered to transform. She reached within her and expanded the magical power inside and then let go as she felt that she was ready to transform. She saw a rainbow of colors, and then the scenery came back.

However, Mitsuba was gone by then and Shinoa suddenly regretted the fact that she had forgotten to transform before they activated the plan. Not even the men could be seen around. But she had an idea of where they had taken Mitsuba, and quickly went towards the building to look through the windows.

"I don't want to fail," Shinoa whispered to herself as she looked up at the building. Then she started climbing up in a style, much similar to that of a cat. She quickly reached the 2nd floor and looked through the first window she came across with light inside. She peeked in and caught sight of Mitsuba. Her hands were tied on her back and she was practically glaring at both the men who were towering over her.

"Mi-chan." Shinoa looked at Mitsuba who looked up just then and their eyes met. Mitsuba glared at her too. Then she said something in a loud voice. It sounded like she was complaining about it being stuffy inside. The men looked displeased, but one opened the window.

Shinoa dodged as he approached, and thankfully she wasn't spotted, but now she could clearly hear what they were talking about.

"Who of our clients do you think would take her?" one asked.

"She is too old for most, the only ones who would look for someone her age would be the Kyuuketsuki, but they stopped collecting from us long ago," the other said.

"Ah yeah, It's been at least 3 years now," the other said. "But Ferid-sama still comes by sometimes."

"Yeah, true, and he buys about anything, but I have a feeling he is looking more for boys than for girls, he says the girls are not as good," the second answered.

"Do you think the police would buy her?" the first asked.

"Yeah, they might want to. They still seem to be looking into whether it's legal to be a magical girl or not," the other laughed.

Shinoa frowned. She figured she had heard more than enough and started prepared to attack.

"No one is selling Mi-chan!" she declared before opening the window and quickly climb through the opening. She stood on the floor and glared at both men. "Mi-chan, transform!" Shinoa demanded.

"Fool, she is not awake yet," the other said.

"We'll see," Mitsuba said before transforming quickly. Meanwhile, Shinoa started speaking to the men.

"You have been located by the Majika no Oni and Majika no Tsuki. I advise you not to struggle too much."

"What do they accuse us for, little girl?" The first guy asked.

"Selling magical girls, and I've got just the proof I need," Shinoa said like it was simply the most obvious fact. As she spoke, Mitsuba walked up to her and stood by her side.

"What do we do, Shinoa?" Mitsuba asked. The ropes couldn't handle the transformation and had broken, so her hands were free again.

"Since they have had connection to the Kyuuketsuki, I figure we could take one of them to the organization and see who would rather have him, actually we should just take both and let Kureto decide," Shinoa determined. She could see a look of horror on the men's faces. "Don't worry," she said. "It's not all bad having Kureto decide your fate."

Both swallowed.

"Please just kill us," one begged.

Shinoa send them a saddened smile as she shook her head. "I don't like killing, neither does Mi-chan."

"Stay back!" the other pulled out a knife and attempted to stab Shinoa.

Shinoa shook her head as she ran to attack. "Starlight Kick!" she yelled before kicking the guy, with the knife, in the head, once, knocking him out cold.

"Mind Blow!" Mitsuba yelled as she punched the other guy in the head, also knocking him out.

The two girls looked at each other, both were satisfied with the outcome of the mission, but then Shinoa eyed the men and sighed.

"I might want to contact Kureto…" she said.

"Not Guren?" Mitsuba asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "Kureto send me on this mission, and we can't carry those guys on our own, even if we want to," she said in a saddened tone. "It would create a conflict if we contacted Guren for this," she said.

Mitsuba nodded and let Shinoa contact the organization. It was quickly over with, and the girls were ordered to sit and wait until someone arrived.

It didn't take too long, thankfully. The men didn't even manage to wake up before Kureto came with his assistant, Sanguu Aoi, and three men who carried the two unconscious bad guys into a black van. Kureto wasted no time asking how the mission went. He simply thanked Shinoa and Mitsuba for their hard work, and sat back in the passenger seat of his expensive car. Aoi sat in the driver's seat. She hadn't even looked at Mitsuba once. If one didn't know, they would never believe Aoi was Mitsuba's older sister, and much less believe that Kureto was Shinoa's older half-brother.

Shinoa wondered about how this could be as she went home and to bed, tired from this tough mission.


	19. Ice Cream

"Shinoa will handle the rest of the minor attack training," Guren declared on the following morning. "I figure it is something you can handle by now. I also want you to train teamwork," he finalized his order.

"Is that so?" Shinoa asked. "What do you want me to teach them?"

"I want all five of you to learn teamwork. According to your report you only had three fighting that monster yesterday," Guren said.

Shinoa sighed. She had indeed written that in her report and explained the progress she had witnessed. But maybe this was wrong of her.

"How?" she asked.

"There are training rooms for that. You should know how to do it," Guren said in a cold tone.

"You need to get closer as a team and get to know each other," Shinya said. He was, yet again, sitting on the couch, with a smile on his face.

"If you are going to stay here in my office, you might as well pay the money you stole yesterday," Guren snapped.

"What money?" Shinya asked as he got up from the couch.

"Those you used to pay for those idiots' dinner," Guren said.

"Was that your money?" Shinya asked, barely able to hide the amused smile on his face. "I didn't realize. Well, work is calling." He waved at them before leaving the office, cutting Guren off before he could say anything.

"Maybe you should learn to keep a better eye on your belongings," Shinoa commented.

"Don't you have something to do?" Guren asked.

"Oh yeah," Shinoa said. "Come on, off to bounding!" she said, waving at her team as she also headed for the door out of the office. The rest of her squad followed her with slightly confused and worried expressions. Usually, when Shinoa was amused, nothing good came out of it.

As they stood outside Shinoa turned around and looked at her friends. "What do you guys say we go buy some ice cream?" she asked while waving 2000 yen at them.

"Shouldn't we do training?" Yuu asked.

"Having ice cream together is a bit like social bonding, we do get to know each other better as comrades," she justified.

"Then I don't mind," Yuu said.

"Neither do I," Yoichi smiled. "It sounds good."

Kimizuki wondered both where they would go get the ice cream and where the money came from, whereas Mitsuba didn't care about any of it, but wondered how this made any kind of sense in the first place. She wasn't exactly satisfied with Shinoa's explanation, but she justified it as an excuse for being tired from last night. Mitsuba was tired too.

* * *

They arrived at the café where Kimizuki used to work, and where he in fact still worked after training because he didn't want to quit his job. It seemed he liked it, but he would never admit this fact to anyone other than his sister, Mirai.

There were only a few people in the café when they arrived. Only two tables were occupied and none of them were Shinoa's favorite spot. She would go and sit there.

"Can you have ice cream here?" Yuu asked in surprise.

"Didn't you know?" Shinoa pretended to be surprised. "They have the best ice cream in town, they are known for their ice cream." It wasn't quite a lie, she was just adding a bit more to the truth and overdoing it a little bit.

"Is it that famous?" Yuu asked. "Then, what's their specialty?"

"My personal favorite would be their caramel ice cream," Shinoa said. "But I would recommend all of them." She smiled at her friends. "You can pick two you want and I will go order for all of us, you can sit by the table over there in the meantime." She pointed at her favorite spot, directing their attention towards it.

"I think I'd like caramel and raspberry," Mitsuba said. With those words, she went and sat by the table.

"I'll go with caramel and chocolate," Kimizuki said.

"Hold on!" Yuu protested. "I wanted to have that too!"

"There should be enough," Yoichi tried to calm them both.

"Sorry!" The guy behind the counter interrupted, seeing as he had been listening in on their conversation. "But we only have for one more scoop of chocolate ice cream."

Yuu's and Kimizuki's eyes met and sparks of electricity flew between them. Yoichi backed away while Shinoa was hiding her giggles as best as she possibly could.

"Fine," Yuu finally gave up. "Do they have with chicken nugget flavor?"

"That sounds disgusting," Kimizuki commented.

"Then you come up with something!" Yuu yelled.

Shinoa could hear Kimizuki reply on Yuu's words, but she tuned both of them out as she noticed someone walk by on the other side of the street. Both the people were easy to recognize. They were both men, and one of them had blonde hair and was wearing a school uniform. She knew that it was Mika. The other had long silver hair and she caught sight of a red eye, looking in her direction. She knew who he was too.

What was Mika doing with that mysterious guy out there? Weren't he supposed to be at school today? Shinoa thought about all this as she watched them pass by, and disappear out of sight.

"Oi, Shinoa!" Yuu called, claiming her attention.

"What?" Shinoa snapped back to her friends and looked at Yuu who wore a slightly irritated expression. He had been calling her name for a while it seemed.

"We're ready to order," Yuu answered.

"So, what do you want?" Shinoa asked.

"I'll have vanilla and caramel," Yuu said. "Kimizuki will have chocolate and caramel, Yoichi will have strawberry and caramel," He explained the orders.

Shinoa nodded. "Then sit back and let me buy for all of us," she said.

Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki sat down by the table with Mitsuba and started discussing something unimportant while Shinoa went up to the counter to order their ice cream.

"I'd like five ice creams," she said. "One with caramel and lemon for myself, one with caramel and chocolate, one with caramel and strawberry, one with caramel and raspberry, and one with raspberry and vanilla." She purposely changed Yuu's order just for the sake of annoying him.

"That'll be 2000 yen," the guy said and Shinoa payed him. Then she went to sit with her friends and await the order.

The orders came as Shinoa had given them, funny enough. But Shinoa couldn't contain herself as Yuu's order neared (or rather, her alternative version of the order).

"Vanilla and raspberry?" the man said.

Yuu looked confused at Shinoa and then at the man. "Shinoa, didn't you order vanilla and caramel?" Yuu asked.

"No, I ordered vanilla and raspberry," Shinoa said. "Was it caramel you wanted?"

"Yeah it was!" Yuu practically yelled at her.

The man placed the ice cream in front of him anyway and send him a strict look. "Look, we are not known for wasting our ice cream on selfish brats," he said. "So if you would be as kind as to eat up despite this not being your order, I would be pleased. Note that if you don't, I will never want to see you here again."

Yuu sighed and grabbed the spoon, demonstratively taking a spoonful of the bright pink raspberry ice cream.

* * *

 **Noticed the ice cream code? If you hadn't guessed, each ice cream represent a character, either Mika or someone from Shinoa's squad.**

 **Reminds me, I also found a place where you can buy ice cream at Nyhavn in Denmark. I recommend their caramel and their raspberry. Also their scoops are about double the size of a normal scoop and it's not that expensive.**

 **Now I'll shut up about ice cream and thank you for reading.**

 **Jackie**


	20. Sickness

Kimizuki didn't know the names of his parents. No matter what he did, he couldn't remember them. All he knew for sure was that he had his younger sister Mirai, and had to take care of her no matter what happened.

He didn't know how he had gotten locked up and become a human experiment either. All he was aware of was that he and Mirai were the youngest and the grown-ups were doing everything they could to take care of the both of them.

But the experimentation stopped one day when a group of teenagers and a single child entered the hall where they were all being kept. With them came the chaotic situation. It looked like a war was starting between the people of the organization and the teens.

The battle began outside and suddenly the little girl stood in front of the entrance to their cell. She looked to be about the same age as Kimizuki, perhaps a bit younger. She was carrying a gun in her hand.

Before anyone could react she stepped back and prepared to shoot the lock above her. She hit perfectly, but it didn't work at all. The lock didn't break and she apologized to them before running off.

"What was she doing?" Mirai asked.

"I think she was trying to get us out," Kimizuki answered. "But it didn't work."

"That's not good… " Mirai said softly before snuggling closer to Kimizuki. She was tired and needed sleep.

It wasn't long after that the doors opened all at once and everyone was free. The teens inside their cell ran out to take part in the battle but the grown-ups who had shared the cell with Kimizuki and Mirai were staying back and taking care of them.

"We should get out," One said. "At least get Shiho and Mirai out of here."

"How do we get out?" Kimizuki asked while looking up at them.

"You two make a run for it and just find any exit," they said. "There is no other way."

Kimizuki didn't know of that. He was only 8 years old. How could he be responsible for Mirai in a situation like this while trying to locate a way to escape? But he would have to try. That was all he could do. If they couldn't go with him, this was the only way he could get himself and Mirai out of there.

And so Kimizuki stood up and helped Mirai to sit up and then helping her on her feet.

"Are we going away?" Mirai asked.

"Yeah, we'll be out of here soon," Kimizuki told her in a soft tone. "Come on Mirai, you have to walk on your own," he told her.

The younger girl nodded and held onto Kimizuki's hand and allowed him to lead her out. As they stepped out, Kimizuki looked back at the people who had taken care of him and Mirai for as long as he could remember. He hoped they would follow, or at least just make it out of there and be safe.

Escaping wasn't easy at all. With people fighting everywhere without any sense of anyone else, it was considered outright impossible, but when sticking to the wall it became a bit easier to make way out of the big hall.

Kimizuki located the exit of the hall and then stood in the hallway. He turned left, still dragging Mirai along as he walked as quickly as possible. Mirai was panting behind him. Her sickness was making her unable to handle much physically.

Kimizuki went down the labyrinth of hallways until he reached a set of huge gates. They were shut, but there wasn't a soul around and the handles of the gate was within reach, but he would probably need his full strength to pull them open.

"Mirai," he said softly. "Can you sit down and wait while I open the gate?" he asked.

Mirai just nodded and sat down on the cold floor while Kimizuki reached up and pulled at the gate. He managed to open it by use of his full bodyweight and strength and then he turned to Mirai.

"Let's go," he told her.

"Okay," she said and grabbed the hand he had stretched out towards her. Then Kimizuki let the way out of the huge building and they started walking down the street until Mirai's legs gave out and she collapsed. Then Kimizuki took her on his back and carried her instead.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I don't know, somewhere with kind people," Kimizuki answered.

"How do you know they will be kind?" Mirai asked.

"I won't let you be around people who aren't kind," Kimizuki assured her as he kept walking on.

"You are very kind yourself, big brother," Mirai said. She was obviously smiling even if Kimizuki couldn't see it. Just that made him very happy.

* * *

After another hour of walking Kimizuki could feel himself getting tired as well and he decided it was time to take a break. He started looking for a good and safe place to sleep where Mirai wouldn't be too exposed to cold or danger.

It took some time but finally he found somewhere with a whole in a fence. He went to look through it. Inside he found a garden with a terrace. There was a roof over it, covering it from rain, and two of its sides consisted of a wall. To Kimizuki it was the best he had found yet. There were even pillows in the two chairs standing outside.

He walked through the hole in the fence. He couldn't tell Mirai to take care while he did so, as she had fallen asleep somewhere along the way.

Kimizuki made his way across the garden and onto the terrace. He placed Mirai in one of the chairs and pulled that chair to the corner between the two walls. He then sat down in the other chair and curled up into a small ball, fitting the chair. He fell asleep immediately.

* * *

The following morning Kimizuki was awakened by a hand on his shoulder, shaking him softly. He opened his eyes to look into the face of a young woman, who smiled softly at him.

Kimizuki sat up with shock painted on his face. He hadn't expected to sleep so late. Originally he had just wanted to stay for a couple of hours, and then move on, but apparently he had slept for way longer than that.

"Good morning," the young woman said. "I was wondering, what are you two doing here?"

"I was looking for a place to sleep and found this," Kimizuki said honestly.

"I see," The woman answered. "Where are you from? Where are your parents?"

"I don't know, our parents are probably dead," Kimizuki told her what the teens in the cell had been telling him and Mirai every time he thought of asking.

"Oh." The woman looked surprised. She looked from Kimizuki to Mirai and then back to Kimizuki. A smile was again on her face as she asked her next question.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Kimizuki Shiho and that's my sister, Mirai," Kimizuki answered her. He hadn't thought about giving them fake names or anything like that. He didn't consider if those researchers were looking for them now. All he knew was that this woman seemed kind enough and so he wanted to answer her questions.

"Shiho and Mirai. And you have nowhere to go?" she asked.

Kimizuki shook his head.

"Then, My husband and I own a café not too far from here," she informed. "We can't let you stay in the house, but you can stay in the back of the café. Other kids from the street are staying there too. They will teach you how to cook and serve food for the costumers as you can work for us when you get older."

Kimizuki ended up agreeing to this, and he was then taken to the café. He and Mirai got a room of their own in the back and Kimizuki soon learned the ways of how things worked. He and Mirai had stayed there ever since.

* * *

 **So, now a new arc is starting. I figured this story is divided into four arcs. The first one, lasting until the Rewarding Effort chapter, was the Intro Arc. The one from Mysterious and until last chapter was the Increasing Arc. The one beginning now is, as you may have guessed, the Flashback Arc. I can't recall at what chapter it ends.**

 **That's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading.**

 **Jackie**


	21. Red Eyes

It had been about a week since Shinoa had heard anything of the Kyuuketsuki. What she had heard back then was the fact that they were buying little girls to research on magical girls. It had been on that night when she and Mitsuba were on that mission.

Today another mission had been assigned to them that involved the Kyuuketsuki. Guren had told Shinoa that a member had started to drink blood from random people around town and leave them in alleys. The signs on the victims were much similar to what you would read about vampires from fantasy-books. The attacks would take place about two or three days after the previous one, and now, two days had passed since the last attack, so Shinoa and her squad were now on patrol around town to find the Kyuuketsuki member and stop him.

Right now, all five of them were sitting on a rooftop in the area where all the victims had been located so far. It was an area with lots of alleys. In fact there were one alley on either side of this building and across from them, there were a lot more.

"What are we even doing up here?" Yuu asked. He was lying on his back with his hands placed behind his neck. He looked pretty relaxed.

"We're watching out for a bloodsucker," Kimizuki answered. Opposite of Yuu, he was standing by the edge of the rooftop, looking down on the streets below them. He wasn't tense, but one could tell he was ready for combat at any time. He had already transformed. So had everyone else, but Yuu.

"Any sight of them yet, Yoichi-san?" Shinoa asked Yoichi who was also sitting by the edge of the rooftop, using his sight, which has increased due to his transformation.

"Not yet," Yoichi turned to look in another direction. "But they could easily be within one of my blind spots."

Shinoa nodded. "I see, is there a way to have them covered?"

"I don't know," Yoichi answered. "Most of it is right below us and at the other side of the building."

"ARGH!" Yuu exclaimed just after Yoichi had finished speaking. He suddenly started rolling around on his back. "I can't take it anymore!"

"Then shut up!" Mitsuba yelled at him. She was sitting on the roof but her body was tense. She was continuously looking around, impatiently watching everyone wait as well.

"But I'm hungry!" Yuu declared. "Haven't we been up here for half a day by now?" He sat up and looked at Shinoa who was also standing by the edge and looking down.

"Since morning," she confirmed. "I'll admit, I'm a bit hungry too."

"But we don't know when they will strike, so until then, we have to stay here, if we want to stick to the plan," Mitsuba said. A hint of irritation was in her voice.

"Actually…" Shinoa smiled as an idea popped into her head. "One of us could go down and buy some fast-food for everyone and we can eat up here. While they are down they can walk around the building and check Yoichi-san's blind spots."

"I approve," Yoichi said.

"It's not a bad idea," Kimizuki agreed.

"Who's going?" Yuu asked.

"I'll go," Shinoa said. "If I see anything, I'll call Mi-chan and you'll all come down."

Mitsuba nodded. "I'm fine with that. Then am I in charge?"

Shinoa nodded. "You're in charge. Try to do it okay," she smiled.

Mitsuba nodded.

"What does everyone want?" Shinoa asked.

"Curry!" Yuu yelled and then hesitated. "Or chicken nuggets, depending on where you go."

"You've become fond of chicken nuggets, haven't you, Yuu-kun?" Yoichi asked with an amused smile.

"So what?" Yuu asked. "They taste good!"

"I don't care," Yoichi said. "But if possible, Napolitan would be nice," he added.

The other two gave their orders, or rather, declared that they didn't care what Shinoa got them as long as it was eatable. Shinoa accepted their orders and then started heading down from the building.

As she reached street level she looked around to try and find some place where she could buy something for them to eat on the roof.

She spotted a restaurant on the corner, by the end of the street, and decided to go down there and then check the blind spots on the way back. But soon she should wish that she had chosen differently, and checked the blind spots first.

At the restaurant they didn't have curry or chicken nuggets, but apparently they had the Napolitan that Yoichi had requested. She also found something for herself and the others. Therefore she had to look for another place.

Thankfully this wasn't hard either. She located a McDonalds and went there, knowing they would have chicken nuggets, although not the same as those Yuu had had the first time, but chicken nuggets were chicken nuggets after all. No matter where you bought them, they had to be the same, right?

After buying the chicken nuggets, it was time to check the blind spot. Shinoa started walking around the building and continuously watched the opposite side of the road she was heading towards. She wondered if the Kyuuketsuki member would be here today at all. It didn't seem like it, but then she turned the last corner and there she saw something that nearly made her drop the food she had bought.

In front of Shinoa, a man with silver hair pulled back in a ponytail was standing, holding the dead body of a young woman. Shinoa could see the woman's face. She was pale and looked like she had been in pain in the moments before she died. She could also see a bite-mark on the side of the neck.

"It appears I've been found," the man, because this was indeed a man, turned around and faced Shinoa. In the same time he dropped the woman's body on the ground.

Shinoa had to take a step back because she realized that she knew this man's face. The silver hair and the way it was pulled into that ponytail and those red eyes that stared at her with an amused look in them. She had seen him a couple of times now, always with Mika somewhere nearby. Was he here too?

"Who are you?" Shinoa asked, trying to keep herself as calm as possible.

"Me?" The man smiled widely at her. Had Shinoa ever seen him when he wasn't smiling? "I'm Ferid Bathory," he said.

"You are with the Kyuuketsuki?" Shinoa asked.

"My, how did you know?" Ferid was obviously not surprised, but he made a pretty big deal out of pretending to be.

"I heard a member of the Kyuuketsuki was sucking blood from innocent people in this area," Shinoa answered.

"Your superiors are good at gathering information," Ferid answered her in a calm manner. He wasn't at all bothered by being caught in the act of killing someone.

"If you are here, then where is Mika-san?" Shinoa asked the question she was the most concerned about at the moment. If Mika was here she would have to take Yuu into consideration and find out what to do, how to tell him that Mika was involved with the bad guys. It was needless to say that this was a conversation that she would rather not have.

"Mika-kun?" Ferid smiled. "Oh yeah, you have seen him and me walk together. Well he isn't here. If he was here, I wouldn't have been in need of her." He gestured to the body behind him and Shinoa's eyes narrowed slightly at this.

"You drink his blood?" she asked.

"He has such delicious blood, don't worry, I have no intentions of killing him," Ferid smiled before looking up at the sky. "Well, look at the time, I was supposed to be back by now so I must get going." He turned and waved a hand at Shinoa. "See you some other time. And say hello to Yuuichiro Hyakuya for me."

With that final line, Ferid Bathory left the alley and the woman's corps. Shinoa could only stand and watch his back while admitting that this certainly hadn't played out the way she had wanted it to.


	22. Invitation

Shinoa got back up to the roof where everyone was waiting for her to return. She had her arms full of food for them. Therefore it wasn't exactly a piece of cake to open the heavy door leading to the roof, but she managed and walked up to them with a dark expression on her face.

"Did you see anything?" Yoichi asked.

"Yeah," Shinoa said while looking around for a helping hand. Once Yuu realized he came to help her, because any friend would do that, right? Okay, maybe not any friend. Mi-chan and Kimizuki-san wouldn't. Oh, it seems I stepped out of writer's frame.

"Why didn't you call us then?" Mitsuba asked as she accepted her food from Yuu who wasn't even looking at her as he handed it to her.

"Because…" Shinoa sat down on the ground. "Once I met him, it was already too late."

"What do you mean?" Yuu walked by Kimizuki and handed him his food before also handing Yoichi his food.

"The Kyuuketsuki member had already killed his victim," Shinoa said before opening her own box of food. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Yuu sat down and started eating his chicken nuggets.

"Were they already gone?" Kimizuki asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "No, he was still there. I spoke to him," she informed them.

"Did he say anything?" Yuu asked.

Again Shinoa shook her head. "He told me that his name was Ferid Bathory and that our superiors are good at gathering info." She stared down at her food. "Yoichi-san, Kimizuki-san, just transform back. There is no use for it."

Yoichi and Kimizuki nodded and both transformed back before sitting down to get started on their meals as well.

They were all silent for a while before Yuu decided to break it, while he had his mouth full of chicken nuggets.

"So, are we going to stay here until he comes back again?" he asked.

"What?" Kimizuki asked. "I don't understand what you're saying with your mouth full of… whatever."

Shinoa decided to answer Yuu's question though. "No, if we were, we would be staying up here forever. I will just report back and then we will go. I highly doubt Ferid-san will come back knowing we are here."

"So, do we just go home then?" Yoichi asked.

Shinoa nodded. "If we have nothing else planned, which I think we don't."

"What about training?" Mitsuba asked.

"Oh yeah…" Shinoa nodded again. "That's right, we have to stick together every day, Guren's orders," she smiled. "So… anyone who want to come have some home-cooked ramen?" she asked.

Everyone exchanged looks. They had never tried out Shinoa's cooking, but according to stories they had heard from Guren and Shinya it wasn't exactly the best. Of course the truth in this statement depends on how reliable Guren and Shinya were.

"Hey," Yuu's face lit up with a happy smile. "Mika is going to make curry tonight! We could all go to my place for curry!"

Now it was everyone but Yuu's turn to look at one another and silently come to an agreement. Did they want to go to Yuu's place and have curry or did they not? For three it was quickly decided that anything was better than testing out if Shinoa actually knew how to cook or not.

"I would like to try Mika-kun's curry if it really is as good as Yuu-kun says," Yoichi said.

"Yeah, anything's fine, really," Mitsuba said.

"If everyone else agrees, I guess I have no choice," Kimizuki sighed while sending Yuu an annoyed glance.

Shinoa eyed Yuu as well. "But is this okay with Mika-san?" she asked.

"I'll call him and ask!" Yuu said before getting his phone out of his pocket and calling Mika's number. He didn't have to wait long for Mika to pick up, it only ringed once.

"Yuu-chan?" Mika asked.

"Mika, is it okay if I bring everyone home for curry tonight?" Yuu asked.

"Everyone?" Mika asked in wonder.

"Yoichi, Shinoa, Mitsuba, those I mentioned to you a couple of times," Yuu explained.

Mika was silent for a bit before he answered. "Then I will go buy the ingredients. We need extra if we are going to be six people eating curry," he said. He didn't sound very accepting, but Yuu, being as dense as he was, didn't pick up on this at all.

"Yeah!" Yuu smiled widely. "Great, thanks Mika!" he yelled those words into the phone.

Mika laughed softly. "You seem to have made great friends, Yuu-chan," he said in a tone Yuu couldn't interpret at all.

"They're your friends too, you just haven't met them yet," Yuu said. "When will you be ready?"

"At six perhaps," Mika answered. "It is three now, so you just come whenever." Yuu could then hear Mika moving around in the kitchen for something. "And Yuu-chan, buy some rice on the way, we are almost out," Mika finally instructed.

"Will do, see you soon, Mika," Yuu said.

"Yeah, Bye, Yuu-chan," Mika answered before the both of them hung up.

Yuu looked up from his phone, at his friends, and smiled at them.

"So we are invited to curry tonight at Yuu-san's place?" Shinoa asked.

"Yeah," Yuu said while nodding. "We just come over now, but we need to pick some rice up on the way. Mika says we are almost out."

"What about everything else?" Kimizuki asked.

Yuu thought. "He didn't say anything about that…" he was thoughtful. "It's strange. Where will he even get it from? I'm the one holding our money today… How will he get that?"

Shinoa found herself considering if Ferid had anything to do with the answer to Yuu's question, but of course she kept this detail to herself. She still didn't want to tell Yuu about the fact that she had seen Mika walking around with a member of the Kyuuketsuki.

"Well," Yuu said as he finished eating his chicken nuggets. "Shall we get going?" he asked.

Shinoa nodded and stood. "Let's go, everyone, hurry it up," She smiled at her friends as she and Yuu let the way down from the roof. The others followed quickly.

"Hold on, Yuu-kun," Yoichi said. "How do we get to your place anyway?" he asked.

Yuu looked up and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Eh…?" he said.

"Yuu-san's gotta know," Shinoa said, not really helping Yuu any in figuring.

"I just need to know where we are!" Yuu yelled.

"Funny how you are the only one who needs a map to find your way around town while the rest of us just go," Kimizuki teased in a cold tone.

"I never said I needed a map!" Yuu yelled.

"Then what do you use, a GPS?" Kimizuki kept on going.

Yuu glared. "I'm actually good at finding my way around! I just don't know where we are right now!" he yelled loudly.

"Somewhere it is best to not yell too loudly," Shinoa warned.

Yuu shut up then and simply glared at all four of his squad-mates like he blamed all of them for teasing him. He didn't care how much they had been involved. No matter what, if they hadn't teased him, they had not said anything in his defense.

Annoyed with both himself and his friends, Yuu started heading towards the nearest train station as soon as they got down on the street. He suddenly slightly regretted inviting all his friends over for curry.

* * *

 **Originally, this chapter would've been in place of the following, but I figured that putting it here would create a much better flow of the story. That's why it's put here in case one of my editing friends sees this and gets confused, because I'm pretty sure I didn't mention that I had this swap planned. I'm also swapping them in the document.** **Sorry!**

 **Anyways, please leave a review. I'd still like to know your thoughts on this. Is it becoming too weird? are there anything that needs further explanation? Is there something I could do better? Is there something you like in particular? Please tell me if there is anything.**

 **Jackie**


	23. Protected

Yoichi had always been used to people taking care of him, ever since he was very young. He knew that his parents probably took care of him when he was a baby. Any parent would take care of their child. That much he knew. Once he became a human experiment, Tomoe, his older sister, had been the one to look out for him.

Tomoe would always be there. Whenever he had a bad dream she would comfort him. Whenever he didn't want to go with the scary men who would do 'bad things' to him, she would tell him things were gonna be okay. She would even smile when the men came for her and tell him that she was going to be fine. Yoichi liked to believe it, but he knew she would always be tired when she came back.

They were locked up with other children. These children didn't care for anyone other than themselves. Of course, some of them had siblings that they looked out for, but they didn't look out for other people. And so, Yoichi and Tomoe only looked out for one another as well. But Yoichi was fine with things being that way. As long as he had Tomoe, all was good.

But one day, things changed. It was night and everyone was preparing to sleep when someone broke in and started fighting the bad guys. At first, no one reacted. Outside the cells, people could do whatever they wanted. But when the doors started opening up, everyone ran out to attack their captivators.

Everyone in Yoichi's cell stood up too. They ran out and Tomoe stood up as well, reaching down a hand towards Yoichi.

"Let's go, Yoichi," she said softly. "I think we can leave this place now."

"Really?" Yoichi asked. He could feel that his face broke into a smile. He then accepted his sister's hand and she dragged him on his feet and started leading the way out.

They hadn't made it far before explosions started happening everywhere and Yoichi could feel that even Tomoe wasn't feeling safe anymore. She turned to Yoichi.

"We need to hide, Yoichi, hurry!" she demanded and then dragged him with her to a corner. The two of them hid within a box. Yoichi went first, and Tomoe last. She could barely squeeze her way inside, but thankfully it worked out.

"You okay, Yoichi?" she asked.

Yoichi nodded once at her. He was all right. "As long as you are here, things are fine," he said.

"I'm glad," she said.

They sat in silence, waiting for everything to be over when suddenly the ground below them started shaking. At first, it wasn't really notable, but the shaking increased and then rumbling could be heard.

"Tomoe-nee?" Yoichi spoke in a scared tone as he tugged to his sister's arm. "What's going on out there?"

Tomoe shook her head. "I don't know, Yoichi," she said. "It… It'll be okay," she tried to assure him, but Yoichi had never in his life had a harder time believing in his sister's words. He pretended to believe in them though. It was all he could do to pay her back for protecting him for so long, and something inside him told him, that he might not get another chance than this.

"Then… where do we go once this is over?" he asked.

Tomoe thought. "I don't know," she said.

"Do you think our parents are out there somewhere?" Yoichi asked.

Tomoe thought some more. "I don't know, but hopefully they are. Hey Yoichi, what do you say we go look for them once we get out of here?" she asked.

"That sounds good," Yoichi smiled.

A loud crash was heard and the ground shook worse than it had done until now. Yoichi snuggled closer to Tomoe and held onto her arm tightly. Tomoe wrapped her free arm around Yoichi and both of them felt the comfort from just having the other nearby as more loud sounds and violent shakings hit them in their small hideout.

After what seemed like forever, it all suddenly stopped. It seemed the entire world was at peace now. Both Yoichi and Tomoe started relaxing, but they still held each other close.

They sat like this for a while. They were just holding each other and adjusting to the fact that they were now free and they had both survived whatever had happened outside.

But eventually, a strange feeling went through Yoichi's body. It was as if someone wanted to let him know that this wouldn't last long. He started feeling uneasy.

Tomoe seemed to have sensed it too, because she suddenly pushed Yoichi gently away from her. She started pushing herself out of the box.

"Where are you going, Tomoe?" Yoichi asked.

"I'm just going to take a look at the surroundings," she said. "Stay here, Yoichi," she instructed him before leaving to go take a look around.

She had left the opening wide open so Yoichi could still see what had happened. There were rubbles everywhere. It looked as if the building had collapsed around them. He wondered how he and Tomoe had even managed to survive. But he supposed he had the box to thank for that.

"We really are okay," he whispered to himself as he sat back and started waiting for Tomoe to come back and allow him to come out. He felt the tiredness overwhelm him. He didn't remember when he last slept. It was probably sometime this morning. Back then he hadn't imagined things would change so quickly. Now he and Tomoe were free and out into the world for a brighter future.

Yoichi was almost asleep when Tomoe came running back and started turning the wooden box with Yoichi in it as the top was against the ground. This awoke Yoichi completely.

"Tomoe-nee, what's going on?" Yoichi asked as Tomoe finally succeeded in tipping over the box with Yoichi still inside.

"Yoichi," she said from the outside. "Stay in here and don't come out, okay?" she said softly. "Don't say a word," she demanded.

Yoichi sensed her seriousness. Whatever it was she was trying to keep him safe from, it was really bad. It was probably worse than anything they had experienced before this.

Yoichi found a crack in the box and looked through it. Outside, he could see Tomoe standing with her back turned towards him. She was shaking from head to toe as someone dressed in white approached her. A sense of evil came from him.

"Oh? Just one," the man said, sounding slightly disappointed. He looked at Tomoe with hungry red eyes. His purple hair was blowing in the breeze. Yoichi noticed all this before the man in white was by Tomoe's side. He lifted her up and bit her neck. He then drank her blood.

Of course Yoichi couldn't see this, but he knew it was happening. He could feel as if the life was being sucked out of him as well as Tomoe as he watched the scene unfold.

Then another person appeared. He spoke to the purple-haired guy in white.

"Lacus, we have to report back," the man said.

The purple haired man let go of Tomoe and looked up. "I'm coming," he said, again with a disappointed tone. Then he dumped Tomoe's body on the ground and left with his comrade.

Yoichi watched until their backs were gone and then he crawled out from under the box. He stood up and ran to Tomoe's lifeless body, calling her name. But he already knew that she wouldn't answer. He knew she was dead, completely drained from blood.

Yoichi knew he had to go, so he went away from his lifeless sister. Tears were running down his face as he ran away. He ran as fast and far as he could, until his legs collapsed, refusing to carry him another step. Sure, Yoichi had gained freedom, but he never had his family to share it with. A year later he had learned that his parents were long since dead and he lived on his own since then.


	24. Yuu's Housemate

The house Yuu and Mika shared wasn't particularly big, nor was it located in a particularly fine part of the town, not that anyone minded that though. The house was small and with gray walls. It had small windows that looked rather dirty. In general, the house didn't look very clean on the outside.

"That looks poor," Kimizuki said and these words described the house just about perfectly.

Yuu looked over at all of them. "You think so?" he asked. "It looks like home to me," He smiled as he turned back and led the way up to the front door and opened it up. "Hey, Mika!" he called out.

Mika's head popped out from a door, which probably led to the kitchen of the house.

"Yuu-chan, you were fast," he said. He then came out to greet the others. Though there wasn't much greeting about it. He simply gave all of them a nod before returning to the kitchen.

"Hey Mika, do we still have something left of that strawberry-flavored candy?" Yuu asked.

"You ate all of that yesterday, Yuu-chan," Mika said. An amused tone could be heard in his voice.

"Eh… Yuu-san?" Shinoa asked, claiming Yuu's attention. "Can we come in?"

Yuu looked at his friends who were still standing in the doorway and then realized he hadn't said that they could come in. "Yeah sure, come on in," he said quickly.

Shinoa took the lead and walked inside and then looked at Yuu, silently asking for where to go. He signaled for them to go into the living room they had stepped directly into.

"Just sit wherever you want," he instructed in a slightly awkward tone. Was he being shy?

Shinoa and the others took a seat. Yoichi and Kimizuki by the dining table whereas Mitsuba sat on an armchair and Shinoa sat in the windowsill.

"Then what do we have?" Yuu asked, in frustration to the subject he and Mika were discussing earlier.

"Half a bag of peanuts and some biscuits," Mika answered.

"Where are those?" Yuu entered the kitchen and started looking through lockers and drawers for both.

Mika sighed. "Go sit with your friends, Yuu-chan. I'll find it."

"But-" Yuu cut off his own protest and sighed. "Thanks Mika," he told his housemate before heading out of the kitchen and back to the others. He took a seat on the floor and sat in a crisscross position.

Shinoa and the others started looking around in the room and study how Yuu's home looked from the inside. It was very much in contrast to what was outside. The living room was kept clean and neat. This was most likely Mika's work. The walls were painted in a light blue color. The furniture didn't look like it had been picked from sets, actually they looked like they had all just been found in a second-hand shop somewhere. Though they were all wooden. At least anything but the armchair, which Mitsuba was sitting in, was wooden. The armchair had a fabric with a maroon color. It looked a bit worn. Other than that, there was nothing worth mentioning. There was only one picture on the wall. It was drawn in hand and by a not-so-skilled artist. From what Shinoa could make out of it, it looked like a girl with a side-braid.

After sitting in silence for a while, Mika came out with a small white bowl with the peanuts and some biscuits. He placed both on the table between Yoichi and Kimizuki and went back to the kitchen.

"Thanks Mika!" Yuu called after him.

"No problem," Mika answered in a low voice.

"You live nice here," Shinoa said as she looked around again.

"Who cleaned up here?" Mitsuba asked.

Yuu smiled. "Mika and I did," he said. "I wipe dust off and he sweeps the floor… usually."

"What do you mean by 'usually'?" Kimizuki asked.

"Well, with all our work for the organization I hardly ever have the time to do it anymore so Mika has been doing all the cleaning as of late," Yuu answered.

"Then maybe you should start doing something, I can clean despite my work," Kimizuki snapped at Yuu.

"What are you saying about me?" Yuu asked irritated.

"That you're a lazy idiot," Kimizuki snapped.

Shinoa took this opportunity to jump down from the windowsill and head to the kitchen. She didn't say a word as she slipped in and stood with her back leaned against the wall.

In the kitchen, Mika had started preparing the curry. He had already finished cutting all the ingredients and was starting to prepare them. He didn't look up at Shinoa, but she knew he was aware of her presence. He underlined this fact once he started speaking to her.

"I'm surprised you're still alive," he said.

Shinoa was outright confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I recognize you. You saved me and Yuu-chan eight years ago during the collapse of the Hyakuya laboratories," Mika explained. "I didn't think magical girls could survive for that long."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Shinoa answered with a smile on her face. She was still leaned against the wall and Mika still had his back to her.

"I never got to thank you," Mika said.

Again Shinoa looked surprised. She didn't recall the last time anyone had thanked her for anything, and that incident was so long ago, eight years, as Mika had said just before.

"I didn't even know what I was doing back then. I had just awoken by the time," Shinoa answered.

Mika nodded in response to this, not knowing what else to say. They were silent for a while, not really exchanging a single word. Yuu and Kimizuki were still arguing inside the living room. Yoichi was trying to stop them. Shinoa was guessing that they were both standing up and yelling into each other's faces while Yoichi was trying to separate them. Mitsuba wasn't doing anything, but she would probably get herself involved soon.

"For how long have you and Yuu-san been living here, Mika-san?" Shinoa asked.

Mika didn't question how Shinoa knew his name. Shinoa figured that he knew that Yuu had told them all about him.

"In December we will have lived here for eight years," Mika said.

"Didn't anyone take care of you when you were younger?" Shinoa asked.

Mika shook his head. His gaze was fixated on the cooking. "It has always just been me and Yuu-chan… and Akane-chan." The final name was said in such a low voice that Shinoa barely managed to hear it. She decided not to comment on it, since it would probably be a sore topic, but she was curious about this Akane. Was she the girl on the wall?

"I saw a drawing on the wall in the living room," Shinoa said. "Who made that?"

"Oh that?" Finally Mika turned to look at her through his right eye. "Yuu-chan made that a few years ago," he said. His eyes continued to focus on Shinoa's. She had never noticed how bright blue those eyes were. They were just as blue as Yuu's eyes were green. There was a similar brightness to the color.

"Yuu-san did?" Shinoa was a bit surprised. She didn't see Yuu as the creative type at all.

"He wanted to use it to go around and ask people if they had seen the girl on it," Mika said this and then made a sound as if he had said a little more than he had intended to say. He started mixing some of the curry and turned his face completely away from Shinoa again.

"He wanted to, then why didn't he?" Shinoa asked.

"I stopped him," Mika said in a sharp tone, indicating that he didn't want to go further into this subject, but now Shinoa had gotten a lot to go on and hat become curious.

"Why did you stop him then?" She asked.

Mika sighed. His body tensed up and he continued to look at Shinoa. "Because… it was useless effort. No matter what he did, she would never come back…" At these words Mika trailed off and Shinoa was sure, if she could see his face, she would probably be able to see tears in his eyes.

"Who are you talking about?" Shinoa asked.

Mika held his breath in only to let out a sigh. "You're not going to leave the subject no matter how many signs I drop," he mumbled.

"That's right," Shinoa said.

"Fine," Mika answered before mixing the food. "It is Akane-chan," he said. "She was also from the Hyakuya laboratories."

"Are you going to give me the full story from when you left that place, how you survived and such?" Shinoa asked, already knowing the answer. The smile was wide on her face.

Mika nodded. "Close the door," he said. "There are parts of this not even Yuu-chan knows of. I want to keep it that way," he said.

Shinoa pushed off the wall and went to close the door as silently as possible. Before it completely shut, she looked out to see that Mitsuba had now joined Yuu's and Kimizuki's fight and Yoichi was still trying hard to stop all three of them.

Shinoa gave an amused smile before shutting the door and turning back to Mika.

"Sit down," Mika demanded. "It's a long story."


	25. Captive Escape

In the cases of both Yoichi and Kimizuki there had been both teens and grown-ups in the cells they were locked up in, but this wasn't the case for Mika and Yuu. In fact they were the oldest in their cell and with Akane as the closest one in age. She was a year younger than them. The other children were five years old or even younger. Of the eight of them, because they were eight children in total, Mika was considered the leader.

They had all been living in those cells for as long as they could remember, but this ended on a day when chaos broke out. The doors to the cells opened and everyone were set free, but to begin with, none of the Hyakuya-cell wanted to move.

They called themselves by Hyakuya because the lab was named Hyakuya and this was where they had all found each other. This was at least worth remembering. That was what Mika believed when he declared that they were a family.

So, originally they didn't want to move, but a man, who had gone mad, decided to break into their cell and swing a sword around. Everyone then ran out in order to save themselves, Mika was the only one who got a cut on his arm. Mika and Yuu helped the others to a hiding spot before they went to see if there was a way out of this place.

"Are you okay, Mika?" Yuu asked as they walked.

Mika touched the cut on his arm and then smiled at Yuu. "I'm fine, Yuu-chan," he said. "This doesn't even hurt." It was slightly true. The injury hurt a bit, but not enough that it was worth complaining about. Also it did seem like he was bleeding a tiny bit.

"You sure?" Yuu asked, eyeing Mika's hand which was now covering the injury.

Mika continued to smile. "Just watch out for yourself, Yuu-chan," he said.

This was when the explosions came and some bricks started falling down from the ceiling. One fell down and hit Yuu in the head. It created an injury and almost knocked the poor boy out cold. He was about to fall, but Mika managed to catch him in time and wrap one of Yuu's arms around his shoulder.

"Hang in there, Yuu-chan," Mika begged as he took a few steps forward. In an instant he had stopped caring about finding an exit. It was secondary. Realizing how life-threatening the situation was, his first priority became to insure that everybody survived.

But then a soldier stepped up in front of him and asked him where he was going. Mika answered the first thing that came to mind, which had been the original goal. The soldier wouldn't let them get out and was about to kill them when suddenly someone stepped up in front of Mika. It was a smaller girl who claimed that she would protect them and demanded them to get to safety while she took care of things.

Mika had no problem determining what kind of person this young girl was. She was a magical girl, and this was his first encounter with one of those. He had only heard little of them while he was being experimented on. He knew they were powerful and reckless. This was what they were called. In Mika's opinion, these words were considered positive. It impressed him that he was now standing in front of one.

He took Yuu and went into hiding until the danger was over. He wanted to thank the girl, but she was already gone, so Mika simply half dragged, and half carried Yuu back to the others.

Akane was shocked when she saw Mika carrying Yuu like that.

"What happened, Mika-chan?" she asked.

"The roof seems to be falling down," Mika said. "A brick fell down and hit Yuu-chan in the head."

"Will he be okay?" one of the younger children asked. "Will Yuu-chan still be able to get us out?"

Mika smiled. "He says he will, so he probably will no matter what happens," He assured.

Despite Mika being the leader, all he could ever do was keeping everyone together and keep the feeling about them being a family. In Mika's eyes, Yuu was the much more important. While Mika just simply kept the family together, Yuu did something even more incredible. He gave them hope. He gave them hope of a brighter future. He gave them hope of freedom. Mika couldn't count the many times when Yuu had said that he would get them out and he would kick the butts of those Sect-people. He couldn't count the times when Yuu had brought all of them hope in the darkest hour. He had even given Mika back hope when nothing else seemed to work. And even if both Yuu and Mika knew that it was so unrealistic to ever hope for the day when they would get out, they still believed.

Yuu-san was so naive back then…

Anyways, Mika started looking around for a safe place to hide and Akane eyed him worriedly.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We need a place to hide," Mika said. "We have to take cover."

Akane grabbed the hands of the two youngest children while continuing to watch Mika. "Where would you find that?"

"I don't know, Stay with the others, Akane-chan," Mika said while continuing to look. He was still burdened by Yuu's bodyweight. He couldn't let go though. No one else could carry Yu around and it would be too hard to pick him up again. Could he even stand on his own?

"Don't go! Mika-nii!" one of the children yelled. The others started yelling the same thing. They didn't want Mika to leave no matter what.

Mika turned his head. "But… we need to find a safe place where we can all stay," he said as kindly and softly as he could.

"But Mika-nii!" One tugged to Mika's pants and Mika looked down.

"She's right," Akane said softly. "Mika-nii should stay here… There is no safe place where we can all be out there." There was a hint of sadness in her voice. Just like Mika, she wanted everyone to survive, but she knew it wasn't possible to insure it by all of them finding a hiding spot until it was over. Besides, there was a possibility that Mika could die while looking for one. Akane refused to run that risk.

"Then what do we do?" Mika asked as he turned around to face the remaining five members of his family.

"We should stay here," Akane said. "We should stay together like a family." She smiled as she said this.

Mika looked unsure about it at first, but then he nodded. "Then let's all take the position as if there was an earthquake. Sit down and be sure to cover your heads properly."

"What about Yuu-nii?" one asked.

Mika smiled at the one asking. "Don't worry. Mika-nii will take care of Yuu-chan," he said, calming the worried child down.

They all took the positions they were demanded and moved as close to each other as possible. Before Mika went into position he took the time to help Yuu get into the right position and even bothered to cover his head with his own body.

It wasn't long after they were all set that the building started shaking and soon a loud sound was heard. None of the children remembered anything after that. All they knew was that the building was collapsing and all they could do was pray for everyone to survive this disaster.

* * *

Yuu woke up as the first one. The first thing he noticed was that there was a tiny bit of something wet on the back of his shirt. The next thing was the weight of the body against his back, and then he noticed the fact that he was buried in bricks and stones. He wondered what had happened, but he couldn't sit up to check. He was stuck in his position, both due to the body covering him and due to the rocks on top of him.

Luckily he didn't have to wait long for the owner of the body to wake up, and luckily enough, this person could sit up. Yuu sat up as well and when he did so, he found himself looking into Mika's relieved face.

"You survived, Yuu-chan," Mika said.

"I'm me, of course I survived," Yuu answered. Then he looked around. "What happened and where is everyone?" he asked.

Mika looked around as well and then looked serious as he turned back to Yuu. "The building collapsed," he answered. "Everyone took cover, but I'm not sure if everyone made it…" he scanned the piles of rocks and bricks around them for a sign of life, but he found nothing.

"Mika, Look!" Yuu pointed as he noticed some brown hair wavering in the wind. He moved and was thereby able to reach and remove the bricks as Akane's face was visible. Her eyes were closed.

"Akane-chan…?" Mika asked.

Yuu got up and Mika followed. They moved so they were sitting on either side of the girl and Mika tried to shake her while calling her name. "Akane-chan," "Akane-chan," he called.

But no matter what, Akane didn't seem to respond.


	26. Surviving Alone

Mika and Yuu sat by Akane's side for a while. They had no clue of how much time passed, but eventually she started moving and her eyes suddenly opened. Mika and Yuu didn't notice this though. They had started to look around and see if someone else had survived.

Akane heard them moving around and sat up. "Mika-chan, Yuu-chan?" she said this when she saw them.

Both Mika and Yuu heard her and turned their heads to face her. Smiles broke out on their faces as they saw that she was alive.

"Akane-chan," Mika said before he rushed up to her and started checking her, to see if she was hurt in any way. Yuu came as well and stood beside Mika.

"Where is everyone else?" Akane asked.

Mika's blue eyes grew dark as he thought about how to answer her question. He and Yuu had found a few, but they were all dead for sure. The saddening news was not something he wanted to share with Akane, but he had no other choice.

"They're dead… Akane-chan," he said.

Akane did her best to fight the tears welling up in her eyes. She almost succeeded. Only one tear ran down from each eye. Mika noticed it and wiped her tears away with his hand, smiling at Akane.

"Don't worry," he said. "Yuu-chan and I are still here," he assured her. "Let's go find a safe place to stay."

His words managed to cheer Akane up, and she smiled as well as she stood up and she, Yuu and Mika started walking away to find a safe place where they could stay.

* * *

After walking for a long while they had found a small, abandoned house and moved in there. It was located in a neighborhood full of kind people who gladly helped them gather furniture and paint the walls as the house they had moved into, soon started to look like a real home.

Mika, Yuu and Akane all stayed there for four years. They all lived a life without many worries. The neighbors gave them food or money to buy it. Aside from that, both Yuu and Mika were earning money on running errands for others.

Every day was bright and full of sunshine and happiness, despite the fact that almost their entire family was gone it didn't prevent them from enjoying their lives to the fullest.

The highlight of this time was nothing other than curry. To be more specific, it was the curry that Akane made that was the highlight of their easy lives back then. It was both Yuu's and Mika's favorite food.

It was now October, nearly four years after they had escaped from the Hyakuya sect. To give a more specific date it was October 16th, Yuu's 12th birthday. Of the little household, only one person had forgotten this little detail, and the person who had forgotten was Hyakuya Yuuichirou himself. However, this was only to the relief of Mika and Akane, since they were planning to make curry for the night for the sake of making Yuu happy.

Therefore they had asked Yuu to go run both his and Mika's errands for the day while Mika went out with Akane to buy the ingredients for curry.

Now it was actually a rare occurrence that they had curry. The ingredients were rather expensive and they were lucky when they could afford it.

"Don't you think Yuu-chan will be happy?" Akane asked as she and Mika turned down an alley. This was a shortcut to the nearest supermarket. They knew the owner well by now and they could sometimes, when he was in a good mood, get things a little cheaper than usual.

"Yuu-chan loves curry more than anything," Mika answered with a smile. "I'm sure he'll be so excited when he finds out you are making curry, Akane-chan."

Akane smiled too as they continued down the alley and reached the other end. This was where they stopped. They could see the supermarket a little further down the road, but now it was in ruins, at least the front appeared to be. People were running in panic from the creature standing in front of the supermarket. It turned to run after the running people and thereby it also approached Mika and Akane.

"What is that?" Akane asked.

"It'll be okay, Akane-chan," Mika answered before he took a few steps forward. He bent down and picked up a small, but relatively sharp stone that was lying on the ground. He looked at it while wondering if he could use it or not. After a while, he determined that he could.

"Stay back Akane-chan," he said. "It'll be okay…" He was a little nervous as he approached the creature further, but he shook it off. Then he started running before he jumped up and threw the stone at the creature. It hit, but not with the sharp end and all Mika managed to do was draw the creature's attention towards himself.

"Mika-chan!" Akane yelled as the creature's head turned towards Mika.

Mika took two steps back and then tripped over his own legs. Why hadn't he used his head this time? He usually thought things through before acting, what in the world was going on here?

The creature bent down. Mika knew it, he would soon be killed if a miracle didn't happen. But it had only been one time a miracle had saved him. Surely it wouldn't happen again.

But Mika was wrong. He saw a flash of light, and then suddenly Akane stood beside him, but she had changed. She looked strong, and somehow dependable. Yet Mika was still nervous, scared to lose her.

"Akane-chan?" he asked.

"Stay back, I'll protect you, Mika-chan," Akane said before she jumped off and landed a punch on the creature. However, this was as far as she got before the creature killed her.

Mika could only sit and watch as it happened. He saw as Akane was killed. He watched the blood splatter everywhere. Each drop that fell looked like a paddle from a rose. He had never thought blood could look like that. He watched as Akane's body landed on the ground beside him. Her eyes were wide open and an expression of horror was on her face. Her mouth was slightly opened as in surprise and she wasn't breathing.

This was when someone else had entered the scene and killed the creature before it could kill another person. Now it was the creature's blood splattering everywhere.

The man looked down at Akane's dead body as he approached Mika.

"What a shame, she was so young and had to die just like that," he said. Mika didn't know what it was, but something inside of him told him that this man was no good. But he couldn't move away. The man had saved his life after all. He had to thank him.

Therefore Mika stood up and thanked the man politely.

"It was no trouble," the man said.

Mika then asked what the creature was called and the man explained that this was a fourth horseman of John. They didn't speak for much longer. Mika just wanted to go home now. He was feeling bad. He was feeling sick too. He didn't know what to do with himself at the moment. All he knew was that he didn't want to be with the man anymore.

* * *

Yuu was home when Mika returned with stains of blood on his clothes. Yuu was outright shocked when he saw Mika enter the house.

"Mika! What happened? Where's Akane?" he asked those two questions as the first thing upon seeing Mika.

"Something happened and I don't know where Akane is… I think we got separated." Mika did his very best to hide the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "Just leave me alone for now… Yuu-chan," he said.

Yuu nodded. He was able to sense that this was the best thing for now.

In the end, Yuu never found out what had happened to Akane. He attempted to search for her once, but Mika stopped him. He never found out that it was his birthday either. Nobody had told him and Mika was too upset about the day's events to remind him.

Now the only thing that really bothered Yuu was the question if he would ever taste Akane's curry again.


	27. Akane's Curry

Shinoa had been sitting and watching Mika as he told his and Yuu's story. Somewhere along the way he had turned back to the cooker and continued to make curry. It had started to spread a nice scent in the kitchen. Shinoa smiled as she smelled the curry.

"I'm still trying to recreate Akane's curry," Mika said as if he had noticed what she was doing.

Shinoa didn't know what to say, but the comment required some kind of respond. That was how she felt anyway. "Have you succeeded yet?" she asked.

Mika shook his head. "No," he said. A saddened tone was in his voice. "Although Yuu-chan always smiles and says it's good, I know it is not the same."

They were silent for a little while. Shinoa had questions she wanted to ask Mika while they were alone, but she didn't know how to ask them, and certainly not after a conversation like this. How do you go from sad to serious without upsetting someone? If Mika got upset, how would Yuu take it? He probably wouldn't be happy, that was for sure.

"Mika-san…?" Shinoa asked, figuring she would rather go right onto the subject than try to wrap it up.

Mika didn't answer by words. He simply eyed her quickly and then turned back to the curry.

Shinoa interpreted this as a sign to continue and so she spoke again. "That guy who saved you on that day, four years ago, what else did you talk to him about?" she asked.

"Oh?" Mika let out a surprised sound but this was as much as he reacted. "Well… he asked my name and wanted me to pay him back for saving me…"

"So?" Shinoa asked. "Hopefully he didn't ask too much."

"No," Mika just answered. From the tone he used in his answer, Shinoa could sense that this was something he didn't really want to discuss, but this was what made her more curious and eager to know what the man had asked.

"Have you seen him since?" Shinoa asked.

Mika shrugged. "A couple of times."

"Did he ever tell you his name?"

Mika just nodded. If Shinoa hadn't kept a close eye on him, she probably wouldn't have noticed the small movement he made with his head.

"Mind telling me?" she asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

Shinoa smiled at this. "I'm curious. Is that so bad?"

Mika couldn't say that it was bad. With the way she asked, he figured to answer her question because it would be the most polite solution, but he didn't want to answer her. Even though he knew it was wrong, he decided not to answer Shinoa's question and just change the subject.

"Could you get Yuu-chan. I think I need some help," he told Shinoa.

He couldn't have sent a clearer signal that their conversation was over. This irritated Shinoa, but she did as she was told and went to get Yuu out to help Mika with whatever. She went back to the spot she had sat in before and started talking to the others about random stuff.

After a little while, she allowed herself to pull out of the conversation. She withdrew into her own thoughts. She had a feeling that there were some important things in what Mika had told her during their conversation and now she wanted to figure out what it was.

Mika had been saved by some man. They had exchanged names and the man had asked for something in return for saving Mika's life. No matter what it was, she was positive Mika had paid the man back. He had avoided mentioning what it was though. It wasn't obvious, but it could have easily been mentioned if he had wanted to. Either it was unimportant, something long forgotten, or it was something Mika didn't want to talk about.

Another strange thing was that Mika had mentioned that he had seen the man a few times since then. He had also mentioned that he had learned the man's name. Now it was possible that he had forgotten said name, but the way he had avoided Shinoa's question was way too obvious. If he hadn't avoided in that way, it was possible that she would have believed that he had forgotten. But now she was sure that this was something he didn't want to say. She wondered why this was.

Without a name it was hard to guess who this person might be. If she just knew what he had given, it might have given her a clue of where to look. Then again, didn't she already have a faint clue?

She remembered her conversation with Ferid Bathory earlier that same day. He had mentioned that he drank Mika's blood from time to time and Shinoa had seen Mika and Ferid walking together more than once.

What if what Mika had given as a prize for being saved was his own blood? What if he still saw the man who saved his life that day? What if he was still donating his blood to this someone? What if that man's name was Ferid Bathory?

"Oi Shinoa!" Yuu called her name, snapping her out of her thoughts, filled with endless theories and what-if's.

"Yuu-san?" she said. She looked up to meet Yuu's green eyes in his smiling face.

"Dinner's ready," Yuu said. "Come on." He clearly was excited. He reached down and grabbed her hand, making it completely impossible for her to speak. He dragged her to the table by the hand. Everyone else was already sitting there.

Yoichi and Kimizuki were sitting closest to the wall. Kimizuki had Mitsuba to his left and Yoichi an empty seat to his right. He and Mitsuba were eagerly talking about something while Kimizuki was staring into space. Mika sat on the same side of the table as Yoichi, with the empty seat to his left and another across from him. He looked down at his lap. To Shinoa he seemed a little misplaced.

Yuu sat down across from Mika and next to Mitsuba, like it was the most natural thing in the world. It probably was, now that Shinoa thought about it. She was then left to take the seat between Yoichi and the moody Mika.

"Well," Yuu said once everyone had sat down. "Let's dig in!"

Only now, Shinoa noticed that there were little bowls with curry and rice in front of everyone, including herself. She had been too focused on the people around her to notice this until now.

Yuu was the first to grab his spoon and dig in. Before anyone else got the time to pick up their spoons, he had already tasted the curry and smiled happily at Mika.

"It's so good! It's even better than last time!" he exclaimed before taking a new spoonful of curry.

Shinoa also took a spoonful of the curry as she watched a gentle smile appear on Mika's face. She knew how happy he was about Yuu's compliment and she could only imagine how much it meant because it was Yuu who said it. But she also noticed the melancolic look that appeared in his eyes. It was hidden from Yuu because of the bangs, but Shinoa could see it clearly. Was he thinking about Akane too?

After only five minutes, everyone had complimented Mika's curry and told him how good they thought it was. Mika had just nodded and accepted the compliments. He never spoke a word to anyone but Yuu while they were eating.

It wasn't long after they had finished eating that the four guests decided it was time to go home. They had all had a day with a lot of things happening, especially Shinoa, and another eventful day awaited them tomorrow.

On the way out, Shinoa stopped by Mika to say goodbye. Nobody other than Yoichi had done this, but it had only taken a brief moment. Shinoa planned to take a bit longer.

"Mika-san," she said.

Mika looked at her with no emotion displayed in his eyes.

"Have you ever heard of the Kyuuketsuki?" Shinoa asked.

Mika looked confused at her and then answered. "No, I haven't," he said.

Shinoa smiled, relieved that this actually seemed to be true. "Please stay away from them. It is bad to be involved with them," she warned, hoping he would understand.

Mika didn't respond by word, but the expression he put up told Shinoa that he really couldn't care less about the matter. She had to make him listen, and the only way she could come up with was a little mean if she had to say so.

"Please try to avoid them, for Yuu-san's sake. We will do everything we can to keep him safe, the best you can do to help us with that is to stay away from those guys. It's really important, Mika-san," she said.

Mika nodded, suddenly seeming to take it more seriously. "I understand," he said.

Shinoa smiled. "That's good. It was nice to meet you, Mika-san," she then said before she headed towards the door outside. She said goodbye to Yuu on the way and teased him a bit about being shorter than Mika. Then she left.

Luckily it didn't seem like Yuu had picked up on hers and Mika's conversation. She wondered how he would react if he found out that Shinoa was suspecting Mika for being involved with the Kyuuketsuki.

* * *

 **And with that, we have reached the conclusion of the "Flashback Arc" and in the next chapter, the final arc will start.**

 **I hate to say it again, especially since I have received a review, but I really wouldn't mind if you took the time to write what you think of this story. I don't mind what it is you think. I'd just like to hear it as I know what I've done right and what I've done wrong because, as I've mentioned before, I'm still not entirely sure about this story.**

 **Anyways. thanks for reading, favoriting, following and that single review. I appreciate it.**

 **Jackie**


	28. Sneaking Around

A little over a week had passed since Shinoa and the others went to Yuu's place for curry. It would be sad to say that anything eventful had happened in that time. What they had done was mostly training in abilities and teamwork. There was nothing new on the Kyuuketsuki either. In fact, Shinoa had heard nothing of them since her encounter with Ferid Bathory.

However, despite nothing new happening, Shinoa had been thinking about so much that it had kept her awake half the night all week. She had come into a bad habit of not sleeping so much lately.

It was the same case on this night. Shinoa couldn't sleep and suddenly found that she was getting thirsty. She decided that to get up and get something to drink wouldn't be such a bad idea. So this was what she did.

The hallway was cold and this didn't exactly help on Shinoa's lack of sleepiness. In fact, she only became more awake from this. Neither did the water help on her situation, but it did help her thirst a bit.

As Shinoa turned off the water, she heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway and when she came out in the hallway, she ran into none other than Guren. He was wearing his full uniform and apparently tried to pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary, but since it was in the middle of the night and seeing him in the hallway was far from normal, he failed miserably.

"Guren?" Shinoa asked as she approached Guren.

Guren stopped and turned to look at her with a lethargic expression. "Yeah?" he asked like he wasn't interested in talking to Shinoa at all.

"Where are you going at this time?" Shinoa asked. "Out to meet someone?"

Guren glared at her. "Yeah," he said. "Leave me alone." Then he turned his head away and continued on his path down the hallway.

Shinoa was left alone. She sent Guren a curious look as she watched him turn a corner. She didn't know what it was about his response, but she had a feeling something wasn't right. Therefore, she started to walk after Guren instead of going back to bed. She wanted to know if he really was meeting someone or if he was lying.

Shinoa snuck after Guren and watched from the corner as he turned the next one. She continued like this until Guren reached the bottom floor and ran into Shinya.

"Guren? What are you doing here?" Shinya was also in full uniform and holding some papers in one hand. It seemed he had been working until now. "I was on my way to your office to have a talk with you."

"Kureto gave me a mission," Guren said.

"Alone?" Shinya asked.

Guren didn't answer by words, but judging from Shinya's reply, she guessed that Guren had nodded his head.

"Isn't it dangerous to go alone?"

"Whatever." Guren didn't seem to care at all about something like that. "Reminds me, Kureto said to give you this." He got a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Shinya who checked it quickly.

"I see," he said. "But if Kureto-nii would give me a message, couldn't he just give it to me directly? He usually does that."

"I don't know why he passed it through me," Guren said irritated. "But I think it was important, so you should probably check it right away."

Shinya nodded and let out an irritated sigh. It seemed that he had wanted to follow Guren out on whatever he was doing, but things just weren't working in his favor.

"I'm off," Guren said before turning on his heel and walking away. Shinya started heading towards Shinoa and stopped once he saw her.

"Shinoa-chan?" he asked.

Shinoa jumped a bit, pretending to be surprised. If she pretended, then maybe Shinya wouldn't figure out that she had listened but was just randomly passing by.

"Shinya?" she asked.

"Were you eavesdropping?" he asked. A smile was on his face as he did so. He seemed amused by the thought of Shinoa eavesdropping on him and Guren. Anyone else would have scolded Shinoa instead, but Shinya was famous for eavesdropping too, so he would be the last who had the right to say anything.

"And if I was?" she asked.

"Do you know who the letter is from?" Shinya asked. "I'm pretty sure it's not from Kureto-nii."

"No…" Shinoa said. "But I wonder if it was a mission or if he went to meet someone, that was what he told me." She didn't look at Shinya as she told about what Guren had said to her.

"I'm pretty sure he went on a mission," Shinya said. "He probably only said he wanted to meet someone to throw you off or something," he smiled. "Shouldn't you be in bed, Shinoa-chan?" he asked.

Shinoa nodded. "Yeah, maybe I should… Goodnight," she told Shinya before she went to bed. It seemed Shinya didn't want to question Guren's actions. But there was something else Shinoa now wondered about. It seemed Guren was acting differently. He was acting differently from the usual when speaking to Shinoa but he acted normally when speaking to Shinya. Tonight this had become very clear. Why had he acted off though?

Shinoa didn't seem to catch any sleep that night…

* * *

Krul was waiting impatiently. She hated waiting for someone, but especially tonight was troublesome. She had gotten company. Normally it wasn't so bad, but the one keeping her company was Ferid, and this was what troubled her.

"Have you found anything?" she asked Ferid who was sitting on a smaller chair than her own, a little away from her. He was smiling and appeared to be in his own thoughts. However, Krul knew he was watching her.

"I will talk on the meeting," Ferid said in a secretive tone. "Once our guest arrives."

"Even if the meeting should've started by now," Krul mumbled with irritation.

"Is that so bad now, my dear Queen?" Ferid asked. He shifted as he was now obviously looking at Krul. His head was tilted and he had an amused look on his face. He loved watching Krul when she was in a bad mood. It seemed to really amuse him.

Krul could feel herself getting angered by Ferid's attitude, he was the best at pissing her off. She could feel that she was about to jump off and attack the annoying man when the door opened and their long-expected guest entered the room.

Both Krul and Ferid stood up and Ferid smiled as their guest entered the room.

"There you are," he said. "We have been expecting you."

"Why is he here?" The guest asked.

"He has information regarding the activation of the Oni," Krul answered. "Sit down and we will talk, I'm already tired of his company."

Ferid whined, asking Krul why she was so cruel, as the guest sat down by the table they were also sitting at.

"Now, Ferid, let Mahiru and me know what you want to tell us," Kurl said coldly.


	29. Revealing Secrets

Mika was bored. School had been boring ever since Yuu stopped attending. Mika hardly ever saw him anymore, much to his disliking. But he wasn't lonely. He had been seeing Ferid instead. It wasn't something that happened too frequently. It would happen about once a week or maybe even less. He hadn't seen Ferid for about two weeks by now.

Right now Mika was at school. It was the final lesson of the day. The teacher was talking about something related to their next test, but no one was paying attention.

Finally the bell rang and everyone stood up. Mika did too. Yuu had promised he would be home a bit earlier today and so Mika wanted to be home by the time Yuu returned. Maybe he could even manage to make something better for dinner to make Yuu happy.

Mika was about the first to walk out of the school building and out of the gates. But then he stopped. He had noticed something that ruined all his plans for this afternoon. It seemed like he wouldn't have the time to go home and be there when Yuu arrived.

Ferid pushed off from the side of the gate as soon as he saw Mika. He walked towards the teen with a wide smile on his face. He seemed to be so relaxed about the whole situation.

"Mika-kun, it's been a while," Ferid said happily.

"Ferid-sama…" Mika mumbled while giving a nod at the other male.

"Come on," Ferid said as he wrapped an arm around Mika's shoulders. "Let's go for a walk." He then leaned closer to Mika's ear and spoke in a much more hushed voice. "I believe you owe me something from about a week ago."

He was right. In exchange for giving his blood away, Mika could get about anything he wanted. He had asked for school uniforms and books and other things they would need for school. He had also asked for ingredients for when he wanted to make curry or anything other expensive. Yuu wasn't the type to think about where it all came from. Mika just had to lie and say that he had bought it of his own money. He had also asked Ferid for ingredients for curry on the day when Yuu invited his friends over.

Thinking about this, there were some of the things Shinoa had spoken to Mika about on that night that started to come back to him. Those Kyuuketsuki-guys, who were they? Did Ferid have connection to them? Mika had to ask about this when he had the chance.

"Ferid-sama." Mika broke the silence that had been created between them. "I have something to ask you about."

"What is it, Mika-kun?" Ferid asked.

Mika thought about if there was a way to wrap up what he wanted to know and decided to approach the subject slowly. "I heard something about someone calling themselves Kyuuketsuki. Do you know what that is?" he asked.

Ferid seemed to give the question some thought. His red eyes scanned Mika's face, then the area around them. He wore a smile while doing so, just like he had always done. Mika didn't think he remembered a time when Ferid hadn't been smiling.

"The Kyuuketsuki is an organization on pare with organizations like the Majika no Oni," Ferid said. "They tend to do experiments on different matters. Also, similar to the Majika no Oni they have an HQ here in town, not so far from here actually." He smiled at Mika as he said the last part. "Have you heard anything else?" he asked.

Mika thought about how much he should let Ferid know before he answered the question. "I have been told to not get involved with them," he said.

"Is that so?" Was it just Mika, or did Ferid's smile grow wider as he said this?

"Ferid-sama, are you involved with the Kyuuketsuki?" Mika asked.

Ferid's grip suddenly tightened around Mika, so much his shoulders were starting to hurt a little, but Mika didn't complain. He wasn't the type to whine when something hurt a little. It was usually Yuu who did that.

"I want to take you somewhere special today, Mika-kun," Ferid said.

"You are not answering my question," Mika pointed out while looking ahead to see where they were going.

"Am I?" Ferid asked. The arm he had wrapped around Mika tightened a bit more and somehow, Mika just wanted to get away, debt or not, this situation was taking a turn that Mika didn't like.

"Where are we going?" Mika asked.

Ferid smiled in a strange way that didn't help the feeling Mika was starting to have at all. "That's a surprise, Mika-kun," Ferid said.

"Then mind telling me if you are a member of the Kyuuketsuki?" The tone Mika ended up using was much sharper than he had originally intended and once he heard the way he spoke, he knew that he was just making his own situation even worse.

Ferid, on the other hand, simply let out an amused snort before he pulled Mika down the nearest and most narrow alley he could possibly find. Before Mika could say a word, Ferid had pinned him against the wall and was leaning over him.

"It seems I will have to feed before we reach our destination," Ferid said. "Krul will not be pleased; then again, she wouldn't be even if I drank your blood in front of her."

Mika knew then, from Ferid's smile, that he probably didn't have much time to attempt an escape. It seemed to be now or never. Therefore he placed his hands on Ferid's chest and attempted to push him off, but the man didn't budge an inch. He just continued to smile, a hint of amusement snuck into it.

"I thought you knew not to struggle by now, Mika-kun," Ferid said before he leaned forward and bit into the skin on Mika's neck.

The feeling of having his blood sucked out of him was way too familiar. It felt good while Mika could feel the life being sucked out of him. How could something so dangerous feel so good? Mika found himself asking this question like he had done all the other times when Ferid sucked his blood. This was also the last thing he thought before he felt his head getting lighter and he fainted from the loss of blood…

* * *

Shinoa was sitting with Mitsuba in Mitsuba's room. They had finished training about half an hour ago and were now just relaxing. They had no clue of how to pass the time. Shinoa hadn't told Mitsuba about Guren's strange behavior from last night. She had figured it was better to keep it to herself if people like Shinya refused to listen to her. At least she would have to do this until she had more proof that something wasn't right.

Shinoa's phone suddenly started ringing, breaking the silence in the room. She picked it up and looked to see who was calling her. It seemed Yuu had something important to tell her.

"What is it, Yuu-san?" Shinoa asked.

"Shinoa." Yuu truly sounded worried as he spoke. "Shinoa, Mika is missing," he said.

"Mika-san is missing?" Shinoa asked.

"Yeah, he should've been home from school for at least a couple of hours by now and he is not here," Yuu said. "I've already checked everywhere."

Shinoa nodded. "And you are sure he is not doing anything else?" she asked.

"What would that be?" Yuu-san truly is clueless isn't he?

Shinoa thought if she should say it or not. She decided that if she should say it, she would rather do it face to face than phone to phone.

"Yuu-san…" she said. "I guess I have something to tell you and everyone else. Be in Guren's office in one hour from now," she said.

"Okay, but what you have to say better be important," Yuu said, still with a hint of worry in his voice. Then he hung up on Shinoa.

Shinoa moved her phone from her ear. Now she had to call Yoichi and Kimizuki and tell them to show up as well, and also tell Guren that she had some important things to say.


	30. Towards the Truth

An hour after Shinoa had hung up with Yuu, her entire squad was gathered in front of Guren's office. All of them were wearing different expressions. Yuu looked worried, Kimizuki angry, Yoichi confused and Shinoa and Mitsuba both looked serious.

"What happened to you?" Yuu asked Kimizuki. Apparently he hadn't expected for Kimizuki to be so angry either.

"Mirai's medicine is not working," Kimizuki said coldly. "I need to talk to Guren about this."

"There are a lot of things that need to be said," Shinoa said as she took two steps forward and knocked on the door to Guren's office.

"Come in," Guren answered, and Shinoa opened the door and let everyone in.

"You said you had something important to say," Guren said as they had all entered and Shinoa had closed the door. "Sit down wherever and we'll talk." He gestured to the couch which was empty, for a change. Shinya wasn't present in the room at the moment, and Shinoa couldn't say she was unhappy about that fact.

"Yes," she said and took a seat in the middle of the couch. Yuu and Yoichi sat on either side of her and Kimizuki and Mitsuba found some chairs in a corner. Guren pulled his own chair over and they then sat in something that reminded of a circle.

"Let's hear, what is the important things at hand?" Guren asked.

"First off," Shinoa said. "Yuu-san's housemate is missing."

"Hyakuya Mikaela?" Guren asked. "For how long?" He now looked at Yuu.

"I don't know," Yuu said. "He was supposed to be at home when I arrived an hour ago, but he hasn't shown up yet. I have looked everywhere but there's no trace of him."

"It's only a matter of hours," Guren said. "Why are you getting so worked up?"

"Mika is the only family I have left!" Yuu's voice rose to something remotely close to yelling. "If… If something happens to him, I won't know where to go anymore!"

"How do you think I feel about Mirai?!" Kimizuki was also getting worked up from Yuu's yelling. "Her condition is worsening and the medicine isn't helping any. Why is that anyway?" He turned to Guren at this.

Guren smiled and leaned back. "The reason why the medicine isn't working is because she is not only sick from a virus," he said.

"What do you mean?" Kimizuki asked.

"And how do you know Mika-san's name?" Shinoa asked before Guren had the time to answer Kimizuki's question. She had been wondering about this since Guren spoke the full name without ever having it told to him.

"To answer your questions, and more that might come, I think I should tell you something that is a bit of a long story," Guren said.

"So, what is it?" Yuu asked, leaning forward.

Guren sat back up and looked at all five of them. "Eight years ago, I and my entire squad went to attack an organization called the Hyakuya Church, or more commonly, the Hyakuya Sect. We had a specific target in mind, an object which they happened to keep, and along with that, we were to free the human experiments. Among those were you three, Saotome Yoichi, Kimizuki Shiho and Hyakuya Yuuichiro," Guren explained. "I might also add that you and most of your fellow captives were part of a greater experiment, this includes Yoichi's and Kimizuki's sisters, and Hyakuya Mikaela and Akane."

"Hold on, Akane too?" Yuu asked.

"Yes, in fact over 50% of all the human experiments were involved in this particular experiment," Guren answered.

"Is that experiment anything bad?" Yoichi asked.

"Depends on how you look at it. You all have a second power called Owari no Seraph. I don't know much about what it can do, but what little material we have gathered says that this power can cause a massive destruction. But this is not all. Combined with something called the Oni, the Owari no Seraph power can destroy the entire world and wipe out humanity," Guren explained this calmly.

"So…" Yuu placed his hand on his chest. "Inside of me, there is this power that can destroy the world?" he asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Guren said. "That's why I have kept tabs on you throughout the past eight years," he said. "I also decided to get the three of you involved with the organization once I felt the danger was closing in."

"If I'm not mistaken, the Kyuuketsuki have the Oni, right?" Shinoa asked. Worry was starting to rise inside of her.

"Yeah, they do," Guren answered simply.

"Then… we might be in big trouble," Shinoa said.

"Hmm?" Guren tilted his head. "Why is that?"

Shinoa took in a deep breath. "I've spotted Mika-san around town a lot over the past couple of months. He was always accompanied by a member of the Kyuuketsuki. From what information I have gathered, both from this member and Mika-san himself, I believe that Mika is frequently allowing this Kyuuketsuki member to drink his blood, and this has been going on for the past four years," Shinoa said.

"Are you talking about Mika?" Yuu asked in disbelief. "Mika is smart, he would never walk around with a stranger like that," he said.

"According to Mika, this stranger saved his life," Shinoa said.

"When?" Yuu asked.

Shinoa sighed. "Mika-san don't want you to know of what I'm about to tell you," she said. "But you have to know this, please don't be too upset, Yuu-san."

Yuu smiled at Shinoa. "I won't, so what is it?" he was getting impatient.

"On the day when Mika-san says Akane went missing, that is not what happened. She and Mika-san were attacked by a fourth horseman of John and Akane became a magical girl in order to protect Mika-san, but she was killed shortly after. The Kyuuketsuki member stepped in and killed the creature before it could hurt Mika-san and thereby he saved Mika-san's life," Shinoa explained.

Yuu blinked and then nodded with a saddened look in his eyes. "So… Akane is dead… I had a feeling that might be the case…" His body tensed up a bit as he fought back cries. "But then what?"

"Mika-san says the guy demanded something of him for later. He never said what it was and he refused to tell me the name of the guy, but I know that Mika-san does have connections to Ferid Bathory, the guy whom I ran into a little over a week ago."

"And Ferid Bathory is a member of the Kyuuketsuki," Guren determined. "I've heard the name before. He is a dangerous person. If Mikaela is involved with him, it is very likely he is with the Kyuuketsuki now."

"Then… we should go save him!" Yuu exclaimed.

"But, I still need to know why my sister is still sick," Kimizuki said.

"Some experiments failed, some more than others. I guess your sister's body just wasn't able to handle the experiment, that's all," Guren said. "Sadly, she might not ever get back to her full strength."

Kimizuki looked down at his hands upon hearing those news. He wasn't happy about this at all but it was understandable. Why would it be worth living if you would be bedridden for the rest of your life?

"Anyways," Guren said, getting back on the more important matter at hand. "I will call my squad here and we will go on a secret mission to retrieve the Oni and perhaps save Mikaela," he said.

Everyone stood up, declaring that they were ready to go whenever. Shinoa still wondered why the mission had to be kept a secret though.


	31. Head of Hiragi

They couldn't leave right away. Even if this was what Shinoa's squad, especially Yuu, wanted the most, there were things they needed to take into consideration. One of these things was that Guren had to figure out a location and another that they had to keep this mission a secret from Kureto, which could be difficult. Oddly enough, Guren managed to stay in his office almost all the time they had to wait.

"Guren?" Shinya opened the door and let himself in without permission, much to Guren's disapproval. "I just got a message from Kureto-nii. He says we Hiragis have to gather," he explained.

"Everyone, including her?" Guren eyed Shinoa briefly to show whom he was referring to.

Shinya nodded. "Shinoa-chan too," he said. "I don't know what for, but it seems to be important…"

Guren nodded and looked around in the office. Everyone else from his squad had gathered around. Sayuri and Shigure were standing on either side of him, Goshi was leaned against the wall across from the one Shinoa's squad was standing by. Mito was sitting on the floor, next to Goshi.

"Can you not go?" Guren asked.

As soon as these words came from Guren, Shinoa and Shinya exchanged an amused look. Both wanted to comment, and they wanted to give a similar comment, but only one could deliver it, if it hadn't been completely out of place in this situation.

"I highly doubt Kureto-nii would be pleased," Shinya answered. "Don't get me wrong, I want to go just as much as everyone else, but despite my position, I'm in no position to defy the rest of the family."

Shinoa nodded to herself at this. It was unavoidable. Kureto wouldn't listen to Shinya. He wouldn't listen to Guren either. He didn't have to. Guren wasn't Hiragi and Shinya wasn't born Hiragi. Of this group there was only one who had the right to say something, and that was Shinoa herself. However, this meant she had to do the thing she had refused to do for as long as she could remember. She would have to use her surname and the power that lied behind it. Sure, being the youngest member of the family only gained her a little more influence than Shinya, but chances were that this little bit would be enough.

Shinoa took a step forward. "Then… Then we will go and see if it is an important matter. If it is, we will stay until the end, depending on how much influence it can have on the mission. If it is unimportant, I will have to ask for them to excuse us," she said.

Guren nodded. A hint of a smile was visible in his eyes. He was proud of her for finally accepting the power she had and figuring out how to use it for the sake of the team.

Shinoa walked to the door and she could hear Shinya turn to walk right behind her. The two left the room together, to go and see the rest of the powerful family.

* * *

The meeting was held in Hiragi Tenri's office in the main building. He was the real leader of the organization, but he had started to hand over most of the managements to Kureto, who was chosen to be his successor after Mahiru's death.

Everyone else was gathered when Shinoa and Shinya entered the office. Tenri was sitting behind his desk with Kureto and his youngest son, Seishiro, standing on either side of him.

"You're awfully late," Kureto said in a displeased tone.

"I had to get Shinoa-chan as well," Shinya answered

Kureto nodded. "That might have been a good idea," he admitted. "This matter concerns the both of you a lot more than I believe you thought it would," he said.

"So?" Shinoa stepped forward. "What is this matter?" she asked.

Kureto pushed off the wall. "I have had some of my subordinates do some digging here and there for the past eight years," he said. "I thought the circumstances around Mahiru's death were a bit too strange." He looked strictly at both Shinya and Shinoa, as if they had played any part in this matter.

"What did you conclude?" Shinoa asked.

"Don't interrupt," Tenri corrected her, but Kureto raised a hand at his father.

"It is quite alright," he told the elder man. "She wasn't interrupting." He then turned back to look at Shinoa and Shinya. "We have just now been able to conclude that she is still alive," he said.

"What do you base this conclusion on?" It was now Tenri interrupting Kureto. Of course, he had the right to do it, being the head of the organization and all.

"We never found a body. We ended up having to burry one of her uniforms in its place," Kureto began. "Also, nobody knows how she died."

"That is false!" Shinya spoke up. "We all saw how the Hyakuya Sect's laboratory collapsed due to the explosions. We were lucky that Guren survived and the rest of us got out in time!"

Kureto nodded. "But the thing is, that Guren isn't the only survivor. We have managed to locate at least 10 previous experiments who all survived the collapse in different ways. Mahiru could have easily found a way of her own to survive. She is smart enough to do that. In fact I have trouble imagining her not finding a way out of there in time," he said.

"Is that all?" Shinoa asked, finding the matter too unimportant. The mission was her top priority. Yuu was waiting and he had been patient long enough. Even Shinoa was worried about what could've happened to Mika. And if they waited for too long, who knew what could happen to this town, and the world.

"You bored already?" Kureto asked.

"No, but I have more important matters to attend to," Shinoa answered. "My squad and I are working really hard on teamwork and I left them in a troublesome situation," she said.

"Is that so?" Kureto said.

"Yes, and Shinya promised to assist us in practice in return for me coming here," Shinoa answered.

"I do have trouble letting the both of you go, since there are still a few things I would like to explain to you."

"They can wait," Shinoa said coldly. "I get that Mahiru is alive. To me, it is not all that important. Wouldn't you say?" she tilted her head slightly as she spoke.

"You are a very manipulating girl, although not as much as your sister, this way of behavior do remind me of her," Kureto said in a similarly cold tone. "But I'm not allowing you to go, I'm not done."

"Just obey him and stay," Seishiro said in an annoyed tone. He too seemed to be tired of being there.

Shinoa pretended to think about Seishiro's words before she smiled and shook her head. "I would like to say okay to that, but I really don't want to stay, and neither does Shinya," she said. By these words, she grabbed Shinya's sleeve and dragged him out of the office.

Before the door closed behind the two, they heard Kureto call out.

"This matter is secret. Don't tell Guren about this, no matter what."

* * *

Guren turned around with an impatient expression as Shinoa returned with Shinya behind her. Both made sure to smile as much as possible to irritate him even more, while they were at it.

"We're back," Shinya said cheerfully.

"Took you long enough," Guren said. The smiling tactic seemed to be working according to plan.

"They were very unwilling to let us go," Shinoa answered. "Anyways, we should get going, right?" she looked to her squad. They were all standing together. They had been waiting, and how they just smiled at her.

"I'm ready for this," Yuu said.

Guren nodded. "Then it's time for us to go," he said. "Everyone is here and we have an approximate location of the Kyuuketsuki."

"Where?" Shinoa asked. "We didn't have that before."

"There is a mansion in this town called Sanguinem," Guren said. "It is owned by a Krul Tepes. We have detected a handful of suspicious people walking in and out of there and rumors has it that Krul Tepes herself should be involved with the Kyuuketsuki."

"It was Mito-chan who provided the information," Goshi informed with a wide smile. Mito blushed and looked as far away from Guren as possible.

"Way to go, Mito-chan," Shinya said, he continued to smile in that way that annoyed Guren the most.

"Then, we're going!" Yuu yelled. "We've been waiting long enough! No more of that!"

"Agreed," Guren said. "Let's go." And finally, they could all leave the organization and head out on their secret mission to rescue Mika.


	32. Sanguinem

Almost at the center of the town, a white building was towering above the rest. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden and a white wall for the sake of keeping out the rest. One could easily tell that here lived someone extremely wealthy and extremely powerful.

Shinoa was staring up at the tall building. With this size it wasn't unlikely that the Kyuuketsuki had their HQ here. It was even bigger than the Majika no Oni building and she wouldn't even begin to compare it to the Majika no Tsuki building, which was around half the size of Majika no Oni.

It was dark everywhere around them. The time was 9 in the evening. In this hour, the huge building and the lights coming from the windows were shining out, making the building seem strangely warm and kind. It seemed unreal.

"What are we standing here for?" Yuu asked. He suddenly placed a hand on Shinoa's shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts about Sanguinem.

"Guren wanted to take a look at our surroundings and demanded us to stand by until he returned," Shinoa explained.

"I know that." Yuu sounded irritated and impatient. "But it's been 20 minutes now. He said he wouldn't take long." He crossed his arms which only underlined his mood.

Shinoa smiled and then looked to Shinya who had been asked to make sure that everyone else stayed put until Guren returned.

"He has been out there for a long time now," Shinoa said, more to Shinya than to Yuu.

"Yeah," Shinya said, sounding distant. His eyes were scanning the white building and the garden surrounding it. He looked for anything useful. Shinoa had been doing the same up until now.

"What if he doesn't come back?" Yuu asked. "Will we stand here forever?"

Shinya turned his head to look at Yuu. He was smiling, as always. "I don't know. Orders are to stand by until he returns."

"But we can't stand by all night!" Yuu yelled.

Shinya nodded, once. "No…" he said.

"Then what do we do?" Yuu asked.

Shinya stared out at Sanguinem again while thinking up an answer. Once he had got one, he turned back to Yuu. "If Guren isn't back within 10 minutes, I'll take command… we will continue with the plan we discussed on the way here." He stopped, but then it seemed like something struck his mind. "You may as well just transform now."

Shinoa nodded and turned to her squad to make sure they followed order. They were already half on their way to transformation. They had turned away from each other. Shinoa decided to turn back around and transform as well. It was no secret that she usually took the longest. She expanded her powers as much as she could and allowed the transformation to start.

A rainbow of colors became visible to her and she felt as her body started changing. She felt how she became stronger, her energy level became completely full and she felt so lighthearted despite the worrying situation and the serious mission they were about to start.

It was exactly as Shinoa had suspected. She was the last one to finish transforming. She turned around to see everyone else in their transformed outfit. Yoichi, Mitsuba and Kimizuki were all looking at Shinoa, but Yuu was looking just about anywhere else.

"Did you see something, Yuu-san?" Shinoa asked in a slightly suspecting tone. She hoped that she was interpreting his actions wrongly. It would've been so embarrassing if he, of all people, had seen her.

"No." Yuu turned to her. "What would that be?" he asked. "I just wondered why that guy isn't transforming." He nodded at Shinya's direction. Apparently he hadn't heard.

"Shinya-san is different from us," Yoichi explained. "He can handle magical equipment without being able to transform."

"How does that even work?" Yuu wondered, unable to wrap his brain around that matter.

"Alright." Shinya looked around at everyone. "10 minutes have almost passed. Guren has yet to show up, according to orders, I'm taking command," he said. "Prepare to carry on with our plan."

"But… shouldn't we wait for Guren-sama?" Sayuri asked worriedly.

Shinya shook his head. "Although it would be the best, we can't let the mission drag on forever. We need to be done and back by morning. Hopefully we will run into Guren while in there." He nodded towards Sanguinem.

Sayuri nodded, but an upset look was on both hers and Shigure's faces.

"Let's go," Shinya demanded, and they all prepared to climb the wall, under a veil of Goshi's illusion magic, that made them invisible to anyone who wasn't looking for them.

They all reached the other side of the wall and stood inside the garden. They then ran towards the white building. They were keeping an eye out for anyone who could spot them.

Shinya had already located a way in. They were heading towards it quickly while attempting not to make a single noise.

The entrance Shinya had found was a door in the side of the white building. It wasn't locked, thankfully. Shinya had told them that he had spotted someone walk through it shortly before they took off. He didn't believe anyone had had the time to lock the door yet.

No one was behind the door either. It led to a small, dark corridor with only one door in sight. They could all just barely stand there with the door closed.

"So, what now?" Goshi asked. He was the last one and the one who had closed the door.

"We continue on sneaking in," Shinya answered. "I have no clue of the layout, so we will just have to walk around and be careful. Since this is enemy territory, we have to stick together. To split up could be dangerous."

"We should send someone ahead of the rest whenever we have to turn a corner, to make sure the coast is clear," Mito said.

"I agree, Mito-chan," Shinya answered. "Who want to go up front?" he asked.

"I'll go," Shinoa said without much hesitation.

"Then I'll cover from around the corner," Yoichi said.

Shinya nodded. "That's good enough," he said. "Get up ahead, both of you."

Shinoa nodded and got up ahead. She opened the door and walked out, into the hallway. She turned down the corner. Yoichi stayed by the door and activated Gekkouin as he was prepared in case something happened and Shinoa was endangered.

The hallway was wide and the walls and the floor were in light colors. Shinoa felt exposed and uncomfortable. In this hallway, she seemed way too easy to spot.

There were doors on either side of the hallway, some big, and some small, and in each end of the hallway, another one was visible. This place really was huge, way bigger than Shinoa had imagined when looking at it from the outside.

"Shinoa, is it clear?" Yoichi asked from the door.

"All seems fine," Shinoa answered.

Everyone came out and they headed down to the right. Shinoa was then send out to check again and she found a set of stairs, leading to the next floor. This was when she returned.

"I found some stairs," she said. "Do we go up to the next floor?"

Shinya thought, and since he had the command, he was the one deciding. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure they're not hiding the Oni down on this floor."

Shinoa nodded and she and Yoichi headed up the stairs. Yoichi stayed behind, just before they reached the floor and prepared to shoot, hidden by the stairs, while Shinoa went all the way up. She looked around. In front of her was a huge white door, bigger than any other door she had seen so far, within this mansion.

As she stood and stared, the door was opened, slowly, and Shinoa knew that no matter what she did, she would have no way of escaping. She would be discovered. All she could do was stand still and hope that whoever was going to find her, at least wasn't an extremely rude person, and that he wouldn't think about looking for the others.


	33. Unexpected

Yoichi's grip tightened around Gekkouin as he too watched the door opening in front of Shinoa. He was ready to shoot at whoever was about to come out of there. He held his breath, feeling tense. If Shinoa was in any danger, he only had one chance of saving her, one shot, that was all.

The door opened completely, and the person behind it stepped out of the shadows within the next room. As he came into the bright light from the hallway, both Shinoa and Yoichi felt themselves freeze on the spot. Yoichi even felt as his hands started trembling.

"Where are Yuu and the others?" Guren asked.

"Where have you been?" Shinoa asked in return.

"I was captured, but managed to escape," Guren replied. "Now, where are they?"

Shinoa looked hesitant. She had two options. Either she could tell Guren the truth or she could lie, depending on how much she trusted his story. This was all relying on her at the moment.

"Are they downstairs?" Guren asked, but he wasn't asking Shinoa. As he said his question, he was approaching the stairs where Yoichi was lying, attempting to stay hidden.

"Have you located Mika-san?" Shinoa asked before Yoichi could answer. She was still weighting her options.

"Yes, he is right in there," Guren raise his hand and pointed at the open door with his thump.

Shinoa took the matter into consideration before she decided to make a compromise with her two options. "Yoichi-san," she said. "Go get the others and inform Shinya of the situation."

Yoichi only nodded and got up to report to Shinya

Shinoa watched Guren while Yoichi was downstairs. She looked closely at him. He had the same aura around him that she had sensed just last night when he had spoken to her. His expression was different. It was making her feel discomfort.

The most uncomfortable thing, and the most unusual, was a strange red glow around Guren's eyes. Shinoa didn't believe she had seen it before. It wasn't notable, but in this light, it became clear to her.

However, it disappeared as soon as Shinya and everyone else came running up the stairs and stopped in front of them.

"Guren!" Yuu smiled happily as he saw their leader.

Shinya gave an approving nod at Guren, and also a smile, while he was at it.

"I've located both the boy and the Oni," Guren said. "It's in there," This time he nodded at the direction of the room, and Shinya nodded, showing that he had understood.

"Then… What's the orders?" he asked.

Guren didn't take long before answering. "Let's go," he demanded, before taking the lead. Everyone else followed right behind him.

A wave of ice cold air hit Shinoa as she entered the room with the others. She was surprised at how much the temperature had changed from just entering. It had dropped by several degrees.

"It's freezing in here…" Yuu whispered. "I can see my own breath,"

Shinoa nodded, agreeing with Yuu's statement. She could feel as her body was getting colder for each passing second. It has to be noted that it usually took some to have a magical girl feel cold.

Yoichi raised his hands to his mouth and started blowing on them to ensure they didn't grow stiff from the cold. It seemed as if the temperature was actually decreasing further for each step they took.

"Why is it so cold?" Mito complained.

Guren eyed her through the corner of his eye as he answered. "The Oni does best in the cold," he said.

"How do you-" Mito cut herself off before she finished the question. She realized that she already knew the answer.

But Guren answered her anyway, knowing what she had wanted to say. "It was also cold when Mahiru and I went to get the Oni eight years ago."

They walked in silence for a bit before Shinoa started feeling really uncomfortable again. It was as if someone was trying to sneak up on them or land an attack on them while they were busy making their way through the darkness and keeping themselves warm.

"Guren-," Shinoa started, but then the lights were switched on, illuminating the room and all the people who were now surrounding them.

"Welcome," Ferid Bathory was standing on a platform up ahead as he stood out from the others and could be noticed easily. "Great job of coming so far, but I'm afraid you're not coming any further,"

"Who says that?" Shinoa asked.

"Hmm…" Ferid thought. "I think I do, and so does our queen," he said.

"I didn't think you answered to her," Guren said.

"You know this guy?" Yuu asked.

Guren shrugged. "Fought him on occasions. His name is Ferid Bathory," Guren presented him.

Yuu now glared at the man. "So you are the guy who has been drinking Mika's blood for four years!?" he asked angrily.

"Now, now," Ferid said in a false attempt of calming Yuu down. "Don't pretend he did it unwillingly," A smile was playing on his lips. "But if I were you, I'd probably worry more about who would drink my own blood in a moment than who drank the blood of someone I hold dear," Ferid continued to smile as he said this.

"What do you mean?" Yuu hissed.

"Calm down, Yuu-san," Shinoa said while placing a hand on Yuu's shoulder.

"Just so you know, The Oni and Mika-kun are in the next room," Ferid showed the door. "Krul is probably just about to activate them," he smiled and then made another movement with his hand. This, apparently was a signal for the other Kyuuketsuki members to attack, because that was what they started doing.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves!" Shinoa yelled to her squad, and so everyone did just that. Guren's squad didn't need to be told to prepare. They drew their weapons as per reflex.

The only one, who didn't move, was Guren. He just stood still, straight as an arrow, and stared up at Ferid. Oddly enough, no one seemed to want to attack him. The Kyuuketsuki members all avoided him. Not a scratch was left on him as the white-clothed people passed by, one by one, to land an attack on one of his squad-members.

Shinoa noticed this as she used Shikama Douji to block an attack from a female Kyuuketsuki member. Everyone else was doing their best to defeat their opponent and protect everyone else, except Guren.

Apparently, Shinoa wasn't the only one who noticed this. Shinya turned his head while aiming at a Kyuuketsuki who was approaching Sayuri from behind.

"What are you just standing around for, Guren!" he yelled.

Guren didn't respond to Shinya's yell, not by words anyway. He just turned around and… smiled at both Shinya and Shinoa. The red glow was back in his eyes now, and this time it was clearer than ever.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet," Guren said. "Especially you, Shinoa."

Shinoa looked at her superior in thought. What was she supposed to notice that Shinya, of all people, couldn't see as well as her?

"I'm pretty sure Kureto has figured it out already," Guren continued. "That Mahiru is alive, I mean,"

It clicked together in Shinya's head first. Before anyone had the time to blink, his gun, Byakkamaru, was pointed at Guren.

"Don't!" Sayuri and Shigure yelled as soon as they saw it.

"Shinya-sama!" Mito exclaimed in shock.

"What's going on?" Goshi asked, outright confused.

Yuu, Kimizuki, Yoichi and Mitsuba all forgot about fighting to stare at the scene that was playing out in the middle of their circle. Shinoa was the only one who wasn't confused. She had got it too, once Shinya pointed Byakkomaru at Guren.

"But… how?" She simply asked. "Mahiru?"


	34. The Sacrifice

Shinoa stared at Guren… or was it Mahiru? She was getting confused. How did this happen? Had Mahiru been there this whole time? Why hadn't she noticed? Why hadn't Shinya noticed? Was this what Kureto had been talking about earlier today?

"Mahiru's body was destroyed," Guren said. The red glow in his eyes was wavering now. Was he fighting back? "She used the Oni to grant herself the ability to live on inside someone else. By making you run… I…" The red glow was now manifesting itself again.

Shinya's hands were shaking. "You knew it would happen and told us to run to avoid being possessed by Mahiru's spirit?" he asked.

Guren smiled insanely. "That's what any weakling would do," he said.

"Shinoa, concentrate on the battle!" Shinya demanded. "I'll take care of Mahiru."

"Aren't you supposed to protect her?" Shinoa asked.

Shinya nodded. "But she has become a threat, both to Guren and the rest of the world, something must be done," he said.

Shinoa nodded and turned back to fight the Kyuuketsuki. It had thinned out in the attackers. Some had fled, and some had actually fallen. Luckily, everyone from the Majika no Tsuki were still standing.

Shinoa used Shikama Douji to cut down one member and block an incoming attack from another in the next second. She watched for her friends as she fought. They were handling the situation well. Especially Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki were doing great. If Shinoa hadn't known better, she would've believed they had grown up within the Majika no Oni.

"What's that trashy guy doing?" Yuu asked. His eyes were suddenly fixated on the place where Ferid had been standing earlier.

Shinoa turned her attention towards the spot as well, to perhaps give an answer.

"It looks like he's leaving," she answered honestly.

Ferid was on the way towards the door leading to the next room. This was where he had said Mika and the Oni would be if Shinoa remembered correctly. Maybe it was worth following him?

"Yuu-san?" she asked as she turned back, but Yuu was already gone. He had disappeared within only a few moments it seemed.

Mitsuba turned her head to look at Shinoa. "What?" she asked.

"Mi-chan, did you see where Yuu-san went?" Shinoa asked.

"Did he take off on his own?" Mitsuba asked, tightening her grip around Tenjiryuu. "That idiot! Don't he realize how dangerous something like that can be?" She was obviously getting worked up.

"I'm pretty sure I know where he went," Shinoa answered. "You, Yoichi-san and Kimizuki-san keep on fighting while I go get Yuu-san back," she said before preparing to follow Yuu to the door to the next room.

"But Shinoa!" Mitsuba yelled.

"Mi-chan, you wanted to be the leader," Shinoa smiled. "So, you're the leader until I return," she said.

Mitsuba opened her mouth to protest some more, but one look from Shinoa was enough to shut her up. She just nodded once and blocked an incoming attack from a Kyuuketsuki member.

Shinoa then turned around and started heading for her intended destination. There was a door in the wall, almost invisible. If she hadn't seen Ferid head towards it, she probably wouldn't have noticed. Yuu had noticed it too. She now saw as the door opened and closed once again. Although she couldn't see her friend, she knew he was walking through there right now.

* * *

Yuu entered the next room. In contrast to the other, which was kept in dark colors, this was almost pure white all the way. In the center he could see a woman standing, bend over a bed. On the bed was a small, black object, lying on the chest of a blonde person.

Yuu didn't have to look for long to determine that this was Mika. He was asleep it seemed, at least his eyes were closed and it looked as if he was asleep.

"So, I did manage to draw someone with me in here," Ferid said coldly.

"That was your intention all along," The woman determined.

"How can you accuse me for that when you don't know for sure?" Ferid asked in a way too sweet tone.

"Go back where you came from or I will kill you," Krul just answered in a voice so sharp Yuu felt like even he was cut by it.

Ferid, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected. "I may as well, nothing really seems to be happening here," He looked at Yuu and then back at Krul. "But you do know that I brought you the best Seraph experiment. That is better than second-best," he said.

Krul frowned and Ferid left.

"Let Mika go," Yuu demanded as determined as he could.

"Let him go?" Krul asked as she started to fix something about the small object. "I'm not about to let one of my precious Seraphs go," she said while caressing Mika's cheek carefully.

Yuu glared. "I want you to let him go," he tried again.

"Hmm… no…" Krul said. "Not unless I get something in return."

Yuu tried to come up with anything he could give in return, but he was dumb, so of course he couldn't come up with anything really good. The idea came to him when his gaze landed on his hands. They were wrapped tightly around Asuramaru.

Ferid had said that Mika was second-best and that he, himself, had brought the best experiment. The only person whom Ferid could claim he had brought, besides Mika, was Yuu. Did that mean Yuu was the best human experiment and the one with the best Seraph power, or whatever you called it?

"What if you let Mika go and I take his place?" Yuu offered.

Krul looked up. Yuu though he caught a glimpse of interest in her crimson eyes. "Perhaps," she said. "But you are aware that you will die once the Oni is done with you."

Yuu didn't know, but he didn't care. "All the more reason for me to swap place with Mika," he told the Kyuuketsuki queen.

"You really do care about him," Krul just said. This statement was completely true and completely obvious from what Yuu had just done. Krul started freeing Mika from the Oni. She placed the object on the floor and then, carefully, lifted Mika up in her arms. She carried him to a corner and placed him there in a sitting positon, as he was as far away from the center of the room as possible.

"Will he wake up?" Yuu asked.

"No," Krul said. "His blood was sucked until the point when he was just barely alive, and we drugged him afterwards to make sure he would stay asleep," she didn't look too happy as she mentioned the blood-sucking. It didn't seem to have been part of her plan.

"So, do I just lie up here?" Yuu looked to the table where Mika had been lying just now. Krul nodded and Yuu then climbed up and lied down.

Krul returned and placed the Oni on Yuu's chest. Yuu felt as the object attached itself to him. He felt as something was starting to move inside of him. He felt a warning shoot through his body. It came from his right hand, the one he usually held Asuramaru with. It felt like a scream of protest. Was Asuramaru warning him about this?

Yuu sensed as his body started to feel warmer. A strange heat was increasing, coming from the place where he had physical contact with the Oni. The heat continued to increase until it felt as if his body was burning up from the inside.

Then something started to move inside. It was heavy, it was dark, and it was pure evil. It was triggering something inside Yuu. It was awaking an unfamiliar feeling, an unfamiliar desire.

The desire to kill.


	35. Seraph and Oni

Shinoa had watched from the point when Yuu had lied down and had the Oni placed on his chest. She was still just standing and staring at the scenario that was playing out in the room.

She watched as black shadows started coming from the Oni. They slowly wrapped themselves around Yuu's body, attaching themselves to his skin. She watched as something happened to his eyes. It was as if one grew completely black and the white in the other turned red, creating a strong contrast to his green iris.

She watched as her cr-… close friend (I wasn't about to write crush or anything), opened his mouth and let out a horrifying sound. It wasn't a scream, but that was probably what described the sound the best.

Slowly, Yuu sat up. He was no longer himself, no longer sane. He looked around himself, making a hissing sound. Within the sound, Shinoa picked up on words.

"Die… Die… I must kill… They must die… They all deserve punishment… die…," Those were the words, and they made Shinoa feel cold all the way through her body.

She backed away from the door. It was an unwilling movement, it was her brain and body that caused this. They demanded for her to run away and don't look back. But she had to stay, for Yuu's sake. She knew that he would need to be stopped, and as his friend, Shinoa was willing to risk everything to stop him while keeping him alive.

"What's going on, Shinoa!" Mitsuba yelled.

Shinoa didn't get the time to answer before someone came out through the door next to her. It was a black shadow with a single wing. It stopped at the center of the gigantic room, making it seem even darker than before.

"Yuu-san," Shinoa whispered, knowing fully well who was within the shadow.

Yuu started hissing those words again, words about wanting to kill everyone, that everyone should die.

Then shadows reached out from Yuu's body. They were long and thin and incredibly fast.

Shinoa used Shikama Douji, her scythe, to block the shadows and keep them away from her. She could only hope that her comrades did the same thing, wherever they were.

If Yuu woke up and found out that his comrades had been killed by him and the Seraph power, then she could only imagine how upset he would be.

"Looks like it's working," Ferid said. He raised a hand to his lips and chuckled. "Well, it's time to leave," he said.

"Where are you going?" Shinoa asked, sharply.

"Do you want to know?" Ferid smiled at her. "You could come along and become my pet?" he suggested.

Shinoa frowned at the idea. She had never desired power, but the idea of serving under someone, especially someone like Ferid, seemed like the worst thing that could possibly happen.

"You don't seem happy," Ferid guessed from her expression. "But then you know, you are going to die in here," he said.

"I don't get why anyone would want to be with a creep like you," Shinoa said coldly while tightening her grip around her scythe.

"A creep?" Ferid asked with a thoughtful expression. "Sure, some might call me that…" he smiled at Shinoa. "But I have to wonder who the true creep is,"

"What do you mean?" Shinoa asked.

Ferid chuckled. "Say you have two men, one is being dishonest and creepy in mind, but lets it show through his every action, the other is just as dishonest and creepy in mind as the first, but he hides it behind a mask of power and the good intentions of his subordinates. Now tell me, who is more of a creep?" he asked her.

Shinoa didn't understand what he meant by his words, but she had a feeling he was talking about someone from the Majika no Oni. If this was the case, then who could he be talking about?

"I'm afraid I don't have time to stick around," Ferid said. He then turned around on his heel and walked away. While he was on his way to another exit, which Shinoa only now spotted, he waved at a man who was leaned against the wall. Shinoa recognized him. That man was the first member of the Kyuuketsuki that she and her team had encountered a while ago.

"You coming, Crowley?" Ferid asked, causing the other to push off the wall and follow him out of the room.

Shinoa was left to just stare as they left. She then turned her full attention back to the scenario in front of her.

Both Guren's and Shinoa's own squad had all dodged the shadows by doing the same as Shinoa and use their weapons for protection.

The only different case was Guren and Shinya. Shinya had, apparently, pushed Guren down and used his own body to cover Guren and Byakkomaru to protect himself. But it seemed Guren had woken up in time to summon something you could only use once in your entire life.

What Guren had summoned was a shield of power, all the power that upheld his magical form. The trigger to it was the desire to protect someone you held dear. But this came with a huge prize. The one who had created the shield would have their transformation deactivated and would never be able to transform again.

Everyone else was too busy to notice their surroundings though. Yuu was still attacking and talking endlessly about killing.

"Someone has to stop it," Shinoa whispered. "I have to stop it."

Shinoa moved forward without a clue of what she would do in order to solve the problem at hand. All she knew was that it had to be solved and she was the only one available at the moment. Everyone had the dangerous shadows hitting them from above. And they had proven to be truly dangerous. Most of the Kyuuketsuki had fallen due to being pierced by at least one of them.

Shinoa's pace quickened for each step she took, until she was approaching Yuu's strange form in her fastest running speed. She had to stop him before anyone else got hurt. This was all she could keep in mind. She couldn't allow Yuu to kill anyone else, not for their sake, and not for Yuu's sake either.

"Yuu-san!" Shinoa yelled as she couldn't get further without having to run through the dangerous zone. She gathered all her power in her legs and jumped off with as much force as possible, both upward and forward.

Shinoa was soaring through the air. She almost felt like she was flying to Yuu. But it was only her power from the jump forcing her forward, towards her friend.

Shinoa didn't look down. The only place she looked was forward, at Yuu's face, at his green eyes. They were getting closer, and closer, and closer.

As Shinoa reached Yuu, she wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could, in lack of anything better to do, and just as much in a need of holding onto something in order to not fall down. She stuck to him, close, as close as possible.

"Yuu-san, it's gonna be okay," she said, praying that any of the things she did would get through to his consciousness and wake him up and come back to his senses.

"Shi… Shi-Shinoa?" Yuu whispered.

Shinoa looked up at Yuu's face. His eyes were turning back to normal. The black eye was regaining colors and the red was disappearing from the other eye. Shinoa couldn't help but feel relieved. She also watched as the shadows withdrew from Yuu's body. She could feel them manifest in an object, held between hers and Yuu's chests.

As Yuu was completely back to normal, he and Shinoa had reached the ground and Shinoa allowed herself to stand while Yuu's eyes fell closed. Without further warning, he collapsed into her arms.

* * *

 **For information, I wrote all up until this from January to March this year. From the following chapter and until the end of the story was written in June/July. If there's a change in writing or stuff that doesn't add up completely, that's probably the reason.**

 **Jackie**


	36. Success and Failure

Everything was silent around them. Shinoa still held Yuu in her arms as she tried to process it all. Was the fighting over? Were they safe? How were the others?

Looking around, she was happy to see that everyone else seemed to be okay.

"Is it over now?" Yoichi asked, looking concerned around in the room. He too seemed relieved to notice that everyone had survived, but also shocked that there were so many dead Kyuuketsuki members.

"I think so," Kimizuki answered. "How's he holding up?" he was looking at Shinoa as he asked the question and she knew whom he was referring to without him needing to say the name.

"I think he's okay," Shinoa answered. "What about the rest of you?"

Mitsuba looked around. "Kimizuki, Yoichi and I are fine," she said.

"I think we're alright over here too," Goshi said after checking up on his squad-members. "It's just Guren and-"

"Wake up you idiot!" Shinya yelled. The shield had now faded away and he had sat up on top of Guren and was now shaking him violently, realizing that he was unconscious. "Guren, wake up damn it!"

"It's not gonna work," Goshi walked over. "He'll wake up later, right now we have to focus!"

Shinya didn't pay attention. He didn't move, but he did stop calling for Guren to wake up.

Shinoa looked around again and noticed that some Kyuuketsuki had survived the attack. This reminded her of the female vampire in that white room from earlier.

"We still haven't obtained Mika," she reminded them. "I saw him in a room with a female vampire who was the one who activated Yuu-san and the Oni," she said.

"Then, we should save Mika-kun," Yoichi said.

"Can we?" Mitsuba asked.

"I don't know," Shinoa said as she laid Yuu down carefully. She smiled as he moved a bit. It appeared he was still alive, thank goodness.

"We have to try, for Yuu-kun's sake," Yoichi said encouragingly.

Shinoa nodded, knowing that he was right. She stood up and turned to her squad. "Then you go ahead. I'll catch up shortly," she said as she approached Shinya and Guren who were still on the floor.

"What are you doing, Shinoa?" Mitsuba asked, slightly irritated with the fact that their leader wasn't coming along.

Shinoa didn't answer, she just sat down by Shinya's side. "Shinya-san," she said. "Yuu-san was fused with the Oni and now it's in my position. You need to hold onto it," she said.

"The Oni?" Shinya asked as if almost in a daze.

"I and the rest of my squad are going to get Mika-san back and there is a Kyuuketsuki member with him. I don't want to risk her getting her hands on it," Shinoa explained.

"I'll take care of it then." Shinya stretched out his hand and allowed Shinoa to drop the small black object onto his palm. He looked at it suspiciously as Shinoa stood.

"Who shall have it?" Shinya asked.

"I'd prefer if it was destroyed but it's up to you, you still have the higher ranking," Shinoa said. "Don't hand it to Mahiru though." She walked towards the room and picked up her pace once she was half way. The others were already in there.

In the white room, the woman was standing, holding Mika's body in her arms. She wasn't big at all, in fact Shinoa would guess that even Mitsuba was taller than her. So it looked rather odd with Mika lying in her arms like that.

Yoichi was standing in the back of the room with Gekkouin aimed on the woman. Kimizuki and Mitsuba were also ready for battle and Shinoa asked Shikama Douji to lend her power before she also prepared herself.

"First one come to get him and now another." The woman made an irritated sound. "Tell me why this boy is so wanted by so many," she said.

"He is the only family Yuu-san has left," Shinoa said.

"Yuu-kun cares about him, so we want to get him back for him," Yoichi said.

"Yuu-san would actually be really upset and angry if we fail to bring Mika-san back with us," Shinoa told.

"Hyakuya Yuuichiro is supposed to be dead," the woman said. "You die from the power of the Oni and Seraph uniting inside of you." She was backing away as she spoke, attempting to escape. Shinoa noticed this and ran up to her quickly, Mitsuba and Kimizuki went to stand guard by the door.

"Yuu-san survived," Shinoa answered.

The woman smiled. "Now that's a surprise. I didn't think that could happen," she said.

"It's because he's magical." From the door, Ferid Bathory entered the room with that smile on his face that never seemed to fade. "Due to their additional power they cannot fuse completely with the Oni. It is said to be a polar opposite of the Oni's power and therefore it's impossible to complete. You should've stuck with Mika-kun like you'd intended." He continued to smile as he spoke. "But now the Oni has fallen to the magical organization and is lost forever." He attempted to sound tragic, but everyone could feel the cold sarcasm from him.

The woman glared at Ferid angrily. "Don't forget you were the one who remarked that the other was the best experiment," she said with a voice colder than ice.

"Relax Krul," Ferid smiled evenly calm. "You can just take the Oni away from them. The strongest are out cold anyways."

"We're too few," Krul said. "We'll just have to steal the Oni at a later date."

"So what do you plan to do with Mika-kun?" Ferid asked.

"Take him with me to a safe place," Krul answered as she walked towards Ferid. She eyed Shinoa carefully. "You've got to be Mahiru's younger sister. You look like her," she said.

Shinoa's eyes widened slightly. "You knew her?" she asked, surprised.

Krul didn't say another word to Shinoa as she walked towards the entrance. "If they try to stop me, I don't mind if you kill them," she said.

Ferid smiled. "What makes you think I'll do that much for you, Krul Tepes?" he asked sweetly.

Krul didn't answer. They both knew that Ferid had an interest in Mika and if he slipped away now, they wouldn't get their hands on him again. He was just as eager to keep Mika with them as Krul was and therefore he could gain something from helping her.

"Don't go," Shinoa said angrily. She had turned towards them with Shikama Douji in hand, ready for battle.

Krul turned. "There's no use in stopping me. "Ferid will kill them if you try that too, Hiiragi," she said. "Not just the two by the door but even the one with the bow would be finished within seconds." Her tone was cool and calm, and the worst thing was that Shinoa could sense that she wasn't exaggerating. She had seen it for herself too. The Kyuuketsuki were fast in combat. Crowley and his subordinates had been quick in their attacks and Shinoa had barely even been able to defend herself properly on time.

"Good," Krul said. "Just stand down and let us leave peacefully and nothing is going to happen," she said.

Shinoa bit her lip as she started feeling annoyed. Why couldn't she do this? Why couldn't she save Mika, not even for her precious Yuu-san? (Did I just say that?)

All she could do now was stand and watch as Krul left the room with Mika in her arms.


	37. Control

Everyone was staring as the small female, Krul, was carrying Mika out of the white room in her arms. None of the members of Shinoa's squad knew what to do. If either of them did anything they were all going to face death, so Krul and Ferid had said.

"Put me down please," a voice suddenly said and Krul stopped walking.

"You're awake?" she asked, staring at Mika who sat up in her arms.

Mika nodded and looked at her, awaiting her reaction.

"Mika-san?" Shinoa asked.

"If I put you down, you'll simply run off," Krul said.

Mika thought. "I am not very willing to come with you," he said. Shinoa noted how he hadn't said that he wouldn't go with them. Krul seemed to have noticed that too.

"So you will come with us?" she asked.

Mika seemed to think about this and then finally nodded.

Krul smiled and put him down. Mika then stood next to her and waited for her to continue on walking it seemed. His blue eyes were carefully watching her to see what she would do.

"The rule still applies," Krul said sharply to Shinoa's squad as she started walking ahead, towards Ferid. Mika followed her slowly.

As they passed by the table where Yuu had been lying and fused with the Oni, Mika allowed himself to slide to one side and reach for something. But he wasn't the only one acting.

Shinoa watched as Yoichi aimed at Ferid and fired Gekkouin with determination. He then turned to aim at Krul, but she was already charging towards Mitsuba and Kimizuki. Both had readied their weapons and were prepared to defend themselves.

Mika stood up from beside the table and started charging towards the door with a black object in hand. It took a moment before Shinoa noticed that this was Yuu's katana, Asuramaru. Could Mika use that? It shouldn't be possible.

"Mika-san! Put it down!" Shinoa yelled, concerned. "It's Yuu-san's! You can't use it!"

Mika didn't respond. He continued on running towards the entrance to the room where Ferid and Krul were standing. His eyes were fixated on one target specifically and judging from the way the smile widened on Ferid's lips, Shinoa would say Mika was challenging him. She realized what to do then.

"Mi-chan! Kimizuki-san help me!" she said as she ran forward, towards Krul. Mitsuba and Kimizuki immediately understood and ran to help her. Yoichi also understood his task and turned to put all his attention on Ferid.

Ferid drew a katana of his own and started blocking Mika's attacks in the same time as Shinoa reached Krul and allowed her scythe to strike first. Surprisingly enough, Krul blocked her attack with the palm of her bare hand.

"Shinoa!" Mitsuba yelled as she ran forward as well and attacked.

"This'll be tough," Shinoa said. "Kimizuki-san, watch out for Mika-san. He might need more help in close combat."

Kimizuki nodded and withdrew himself slightly from the girls' fight against Krul to be more capable of keeping an eye on Mika's fight against Ferid.

Shinoa and Mitsuba continued to attempt to land attacks on the female vampire, the leader of the Kyuuketsuki, as many as they could. Krul continued to block them, mostly with her bare hands but she sometimes used her feet as well. Shinoa would have to admit that she was good, and very strong. She was also happy that Mitsuba was with her. If she had been alone, she might not have been able to win, in fact she might have been beaten fairly easily.

"Ferid," Krul said suddenly. "We shouldn't linger here."

"Are you admitting defeat, Krul?" Ferid asked in a teasing manner.

Kimizuki turned half way towards Mika and Ferid, noticing that Ferid seemed a little too untroubled. But before Kimizuki could run ahead, Yoichi had already fired and Ferid got busy dodging the shot and avoiding Mika's attacks in the same time.

"We are too few against too many," Krul said. "Plus, the main force might be coming and I'm not too interested in lingering long enough for them to catch us," she said.

Ferid sighed. "You've got a point," he muttered. "Well, it's been fun, Mika-kun." He said before he turned on his heel and left. Krul hurried after him with an angry glare at everyone in the room.

After the two disappeared, Shinoa and the rest of her squad went to the entrance where Mika was standing. He was now holding Asuramaru with both hands and they were shaking.

"Is there something you want to say?" Shinoa asked.

"I helped you as much as you helped me, so we're even," Mika answered.

"You're so cold," Shinoa teased. "Put down the sword now. Only Yuu-san can hold it with his bare hands anyways," she said.

Mika glared at her. "If it's Yuu-chan's, I'll hold onto it until he can have it," he said.

"Reminds me, we should go back to Yuu-kun," Yoichi said in a slightly careful voice.

Shinoa nodded. "You're right, Yoichi-san." She started leading the way out the room. "If you feel like dropping the sword, go ahead. It is not expected of you to handle our weapons, Mika-san," she said over her shoulder.

Mika nodded and just followed her. His hands were trembling but he held on to the sword tightly anyways. He had a stubborn look on his face as he walked right behind Shinoa all the way down to the others.

They all headed out the room and down to where the others were. Yuu was still unconscious but Guren seemed to have woken up. Shinya had gotten back on his feet and stepped away from Guren and he now sat up. Apparently creating the shield and losing his powers had drained a lot of his physical energy as well and caused him to pass out.

"We're back," Shinoa said.

"We can see," Guren answered. "You got the Oni, great job, Shinoa," he complimented her.

"Thank you, it was a lot of hard work!" Shinoa smiled. "Am I getting a reward now?" she smiled as she said this.

Guren simply turned away. "As if anyone would reward you. The compliment should be enough."

The sound of metal hitting the ground was heard and Shinoa turned to see that Yuu's sword has fallen to the ground and Mika was now kneeling beside Yuu's unconscious form.

"Yuu-chan!" Mika called as he grabbed Yuu's one hand and held it. He looked worriedly at Yuu's face as if he was expecting him to open his eyes when he called.

"Who's that?" Shinya asked Guren.

"Yuu's housemate Hyakuya Mikaela," Guren answered. "Has he been holding on to Asuramaru?" he asked Shinoa with questioning eyes.

"He fought against Ferid Bathory with it so I'd say he has," Shinoa answered.

Guren smiled interested but quickly snapped out of it. "Shinya, how many hours since we left HQ?" he asked.

Shinya looked at his watch and then up at Guren. "It's midnight now," he said. "It's been four hours so far."

Guren sighed. "Then we better get out of here before Kureto gets suspicious and comes for us or something like that. It would lead to some results I'd rather not see," he said before he attempted to stand.

Sayuri and Shigure hurried over before anyone else could react and helped Guren on his feet.

Mika attempted to pick up Yuu but Shinoa held a hand out. "Mika-san, you take the sword, Kimizuki-san will carry Yuu-san instead."

"But-" Mika was about to protest but Shinoa continued.

"Once bound to a weapon, we can't touch another weapon without receiving resistance from our own. That hurts a lot. You are the only one that can touch it because you're not attached to any weapon," she said.

Mika sighed, giving up, but he did help getting Yuu onto Kimizuki's back before he picked up the sword.

"That boy is joining the Majika no Tsuki," Guren told Shinya as he was supported towards the exit of the room. He was smiling as he said this.

Shinya nodded. "Remember to ask him first though," he said.

Guren nodded. "I know," he said.

They were all on their way towards the way they came in when suddenly the door opened and Majika no Oni troops came welling in. Kureto was in the lead with a cold expression on his face.


	38. Deceive and Run

Kureto's cold eyes were scanning the huge group of magical users. He was clearly taking note of every face he saw within the group. His eyes especially lingered on Guren's face and unspoken words were exchanged between the two.

Shinoa wondered what was going on. She could sense that the air had gotten much more tense than before. There was something here she didn't know of.

"I figured you'd be here, Guren," Kureto said.

"You're clever," Guren spat. "We've been fighting hard. We need to get back to HQ."

"You know I can't do that," Kureto said. "Not before you hand it over."

"I haven't got any of it," Guren said.

Kureto snorted. "Shinya, show me what you're holding," he said.

Shinya looked hesitant, first at Kureto, then at Guren, then he shook his head at Kureto. "I haven't got anything," he lied.

Kureto's eyes narrowed. "And what about those three boys you dragged under your own organization in secret and gave the black powers in secret?"

Guren didn't show any reaction. Shinoa was surprised though. She only knew three boys under Guren's service with strange circumstances. These boys had also received those special powers and this was under strange circumstances as well.

"Kimizuki-san, Yoichi-san, Mika-san, get behind me and Mi-chan," Shinoa whispered.

"What's going on?" Yoichi asked.

"Stay calm," Shinya demanded at them. "This does not concern you."

"You're wrong," Kureto said. "It does concern them."

"What's this about?" Shinoa asked, taking a step forward.

Kureto looked at her. "Owari no Seraph," he answered while letting his gaze trail around at the faces of the boys.

"Are you saying you're doing the same as the Kyuuketsuki?" Shinoa asked.

Kureto shrugged. "It's not far off," he said. "However, we want it to go a little differently."

"How so?" Mika asked, taking part in the conversation. Shinoa could sense his fury. She somewhat understood. Both he and Yuu had been used by the Kyuuketsuki and now it looked like Kureto had intentions of using Yuu for his own experiments.

Kureto's eyes fixated solely on Mika now. "We want to use the Owari no Seraph to take control over the world," he said.

"Mika-san, step back," Shinoa said.

Mika didn't move. "I won't allow you to use Yuu-chan for that," Mika said.

"Mika-san!" Shinoa grabbed a hold of Mika's sleeve and attempted to pull him back now. But he still didn't move.

"Shinoa," Guren called.

Shinoa looked up in time to see Guren toss the Oni at her. She caught it and looked confused at him and Shinya. It seemed Shinya had given to Oni to Guren while Kureto's attention was on Mika.

"What?" Shinoa asked. "Do you want me to do something?" she asked.

"Go back, equip the blonde one and hide. Don't let anyone get caught," Guren ordered.

Shinoa nodded. She had nothing more to say. She knew Guren was right. They had to get going and she couldn't let anyone get caught by the Majika no Oni.

She held her hand behind her and counted down from three. Her intention was for them to run once she had finished counting. She then started running. She could sense Mitsuba running behind her and Kimizuki was running with Yuu on his back right after them. Yoichi grabbed Mika by the wrist as he ran by and the two ran in the back.

In the same time as they started running, Goshi created an illusion to hide them and Mito, Sayuri and Shigure started attacking.

The cover wasn't the best, but Shinoa knew they had managed the escape.

They managed to get out the same way they had come in, down the stairs and out through the hallways and outside of the mansion, Sanguinem. This was when the problem occurred. Shinoa saw it right away. The grounds were surrounded by Majika no Oni.

"Where do we go, Shinoa?" Mitsuba asked.

Shinoa looked around. "How would I know, Mi-chan?" she asked. "Isn't there a hidden way out?"

"Follow me," Mika said, looking more at Kimizuki than at the others. His objective was to save Yuu, perhaps himself, and the others would just come along if they could. They were lucky that he had found a way for them to escape. Shinoa smiled at this. She was glad Mika was on their side.

Mika ran to a part of the wall, covered in plants. Judging from the way they were reaching over the top of the wall, it was very likely that it had its roots on the other side. If they could climb over and hide in the plant they could probably make it. But they would need to help each other out.

"Yoichi-san, you go first with Mi-chan," Shinoa said. "Since Yuu-san is the heavier burden we need to get him over first."

Yoichi climbed up the plant first and Mitsuba followed quickly. They then sat on the wall and looked down.

Shinoa then turned to Kimizuki and Mika. "Mika-san, put down the sword for a moment and help Kimizuki-san lift up Yuu-san as Yoichi-san and Mi-chan can reach," Shinoa said.

Mika put down the sword and helped Kimizuki move Yuu. He also willingly helped out in lifting Yuu up as Mitsuba and Yoichi could reach and pull him up. The two latter then helped each other getting down on the other side without dropping Yuu.

After this, Kimizuki gestured for Shinoa to get up but she shook her head. "Mika-san needs to get over first. He has to climb to the other side with Yuu-san's sword," she justified.

Mika nodded and grabbed Asuramaru before he went to the wall and started climbing slowly. He got to the top and swung his legs over before jumping down. The sword didn't leave his hand even once, but his hands were trembling. It was clear the power was too great for him.

Kimizuki then climbed up the wall and Shinoa went last. As far as she could guess, not only Yuu and Mika were Seraphs that could be used with the Oni but also Yoichi and Kimizuki seemed to be capable of this. What in the world was this anyway?

Once they were all on the other side, Shinoa looked to the others. "We need to get out of here and to Majika no Tsuki's HQ, and then we need some place to hide."

"Where?" Mitsuba asked.

"We can't use HQ since Kureto is there, and Guren too," Shinoa said. "And I don't trust Guren very much at the moment. So can we stay with either Yoichi-san or Kimizuki-san?" she asked.

"My place is really small. I don't even think we can fit half of us in there," Yoichi said.

"There are a lot of people at my place," Kimizuki said. "It is not guaranteed that none of them will give us away if questioned, and it is right behind the café which is publicly used."

Shinoa turned to Mika. "Can you and Yuu-san have us?" she asked.

Mika thought. "The place is small and I don't really think it's safe for so many of us to be there," he said. "Yuu-chan and I could stay there."

Shinoa shook her head. "In case they or the Kyuuketsuki find you, you need someone to defend you and Yuu-san. He can't do it alone, we are his friends and we want to protect both him and you, Mika-san. That's important to us." She attempted a smile at him, but he didn't return it, he just nodded, stubborn person.

"Then we can stay at our place," Mika finally said.

Shinoa smiled gratefully and then turned back to being the professional leader of her squad. "Let's get a weapon for Mika-san and then go into hiding," she said before leading the way out of their hideout and towards the Majika no Tsuki's base.


	39. Helping Trident

Hidden by the night, Shinoa's squad and Mika reached the Majika no Tsuki and then stopped, noticing that the front was covered by people from Majika no Oni. It was all clear to them that they couldn't go through there.

"Change of plans," Shinoa said as she turned to the others. "We will make our way in through the back."

"Are you sure there are no one on that side?" Mitsuba asked skeptically.

"Positive," Shinoa said, although she actually wasn't. She wanted for her friends to believe in it though and give them hope. Of course if it turned out to be false they would need to think up a way to sneak in. If they wanted a weapon for Mika it was now or never.

They made their way to the back of the building, to the place where Yuu, Kimizuki and Yoichi had been introduced to Mitsuba and Shinoa had been re-introduced, right before they were sent out on their first mission and had their first run-in with the Kyuuketsuki.

Shinoa led the way to the door and pressed down the handle. It opened and allowed them to enter the building. She turned to the others and smiled.

"This is going smoothly," she said. "Follow me."

And unlike how it is in reality, where the poor heroine must struggle to keep her followers, in this story, they followed her willingly inside the building because they trusted her more than anything.

They went into the familiar hallways and Shinoa continued to keep the lead. She led the way down the hallway and up the stairs to the room where they were keeping weapons for any magical girl or boy to possess. She grabbed a key from under her shirt and unlocked the door to the room.

"Put down Yuu-san's sword," Shinoa told Mika as she stepped into the room. "You can't bring it inside this room."

"What if I refuse?" Mika asked.

"Then you will never be able to protect Yuu-san," Shinoa threatened, knowing that Mika would want to be able to do something like this. It did add some more to his will with the fact that Yuu had risked everything to save his life earlier on that same night.

Mika nodded. He sensed how Shinoa was slightly manipulating him, but he also knew that there was some truth to her words, and therefore he couldn't ignore her. He put down the sword and stepped into the room.

"What now?" he asked.

"Simple," Shinoa said without a hint of insecurity in her voice, despite this being her first time helping someone to a weapon. "You pick a weapon you like and then connect with it. You'll be unconscious for a short amount of time, but nothing more than 45 minutes at max. Once you awaken, we'll get out," Shinoa explained her plan down to the very last detail.

Mika nodded and walked further into the room, taking a look at all the weapons the organization had on display. There were a lot, a gun, a small bow, a knife, a katana, a two-handed sword, an axe and more weapons that no one was even sure what was called.

Mika picked a katana, much similar to Yuu's Asuramaru and grabbed a tight hold of it before he pulled it and collapsed. Shinoa silently watched as this happened. She didn't show any emotions on her face except plain seriousness.

"Isn't this a bit risky?" Yoichi asked.

"What do you mean?" Shinoa asked back.

"That man from back at Sanguinem seemed to want us to stay. Could it be that we are being chased?" Yoichi asked.

Kimizuki nodded. "It doesn't seem unlikely that we would be," he said. "If that's the case, we don't have time for him to get some power from one of the weapons."

Shinoa nodded while watching Mika. "I know this isn't the time for this, but I have my reasons to want to pull through with this before we make our next move."

"Why?" Mitsuba asked.

"Guren gave the order, and I have a feeling we will need all the help we can get. As long as Yuu-san is out cold he is useless and Mika-san isn't in sync with Asuramaru," Shinoa said. This lead to the clear conclusion that since Mika wasn't in sync with the katana, he couldn't use it to attack or defend himself.

They stood in silence for a bit. All of them knew that Shinoa was right on what she said and therefore they had no objections. They just had to stand and wait until Mika woke up. But after 15 minutes he still hadn't woken up and noise started coming from somewhere else in the building. They also heard footsteps in the hallway.

"Yoichi-san, Mi-chan!" Shinoa called. "Prepare for an attack!"

The two mentioned turned around to face the entrance. Both had their weapons in hand as they waited for the enemy to arrive and attack them.

But the one who opened the door was no enemy. He was panting heavily as he looked up at them. He was wearing a magical boy outfit and had a trident in hand. He had a strict look in his eyes once he looked up at them.

"Who of you is Hiiragi Shinoa?" he asked.

Shinoa took a step forward. "That'd be me," she answered.

The guy nodded. "I'm Narumi Makoto. I was sent by Guren to find you a way out and help you escape before you will be caught by the Majika no Oni," Narumi said.

"We have one in the middle of contracting with a weapon," Shinoa said.

Narumi didn't look fazed by it. He just turned to look over his shoulder. "Yayoi, Rika!" he called and two girls appeared beside him. "Shusaku!" he called and a man appeared half way behind him. They were clearly awaiting his orders. So this meant Narumi was a squad leader.

"I want you, Shusaku, to take the boy there and bring him with us. Rika, Yayoi, make sure nothing in his contracting with the power goes wrong," Narumi ordered.

The three acted quickly and brought Mika up front. He wouldn't be happy if he were to wake up right now, Shinoa knew as much.

"Follow me," Narumi said. "Kagiyama, you take the back." Narumi started heading towards wherever their way of escape was. They reached the staircase and started heading upwards, towards the roof. This only caused more questions to flow around in Shinoa's mind. How would they possibly escape from up there? Could these guys even be trusted? Were they really with Guren or was it a trick? Were they with Mahiru?

They had nearly reached the roof when they heard someone coming running up the stairs and it didn't take long before Shinoa could see them.

"Soldiers!" she yelled.

"I know," Narumi said as he picked up the pace. Everyone else followed and they reached the roof at a running pace. As they did so, Mika was dropped on the floor and Narumi assembled in front of the door with the rest of his squad. All of them summoned their powers and waited for the soldiers to reach the top. Narumi turned his head towards Shinoa's squad while there was still time.

"There is a rope from the edge of the roof to the closest building. There are a handful more ropes in the corner. Tie the unconscious ones to yourselves and bring them over like that. You use the rope between the buildings to get to safety. Understood?" he asked.

Shinoa nodded. "Thank you, Narumi-san," she said before she and Mitsuba helped tying Yuu to Kimizuki as he wouldn't fall down. They then agreed that as the responsible leader Shinoa would carry Mika to the other side. Both he and his weapon were tied to her

While the soldiers were welling out on the roof and Narumi's squad was struggling to keep them away, Shinoa's squad slowly made it across the empty space below and over to the next building, all of them were holding their breaths until they reached the other side. Then they headed across the roof and climbed down on the other side.

Before the roof of the Majika no Tsuki building disappeared, Shinoa took one last long look at Narumi and his squad. She was secretly grateful for their help as she climbed down the building and allowed them to disappear out of sight.

* * *

 **On Remonalin** **'s request I have changed the genre from the story and the summary might also change further than the small addition I have already made now, also on her suggestion. Thanks a lot!**

 **And thanks for reading everyone!**

 **Jackie**


	40. Safe by Dawn

The sun was rising when the group reached Mika's and Yuu's small house. Mika had awoken along the way. He was still tied to Shinoa's back and he had expressed how impressed he was that she could carry him. He had then offered to carry her for a bit, like the gentleman he might have been deep down. Shinoa, of course, accepted the offer.

Yuu, on the other hand, didn't wake up until sometime past noon. Like always, he was unconscious through all the time when he was probably needed the most, what an idiot.

Shinoa, the rest of her squad, and Mika stayed in the house for about two months. Only Mika went out a few times. The first time was to ask the neighbors to hide them and bring them food and the other few times was to collect the food when they discovered that they were out of something.

At the beginning of the third month, Narumi showed up outside their door with news on what had happened within the magical organization. Shinoa invited him in without asking Mika and Yuu if it was okay with them.

"Who's that?" Yuu asked. He had been unconscious the first time they'd met Narumi, so of course he didn't remember who he was. It was the same for Mika.

"This is Narumi-san," Shinoa introduced. "He helped us escape from the Majika no Tsuki's building," she informed the two owners of the house they were in. "He says he has news on what has happened over the past two months."

Narumi nodded at this.

"Sit down then," Yuu said. "I want to know everything!" he was clearly very eager to hear whatever Narumi had to say to them.

Narumi accepted the invitation and sat down by the table. Mika went to the kitchen then to check on their food. He didn't like strangers very much, he mistrusted them, and so he didn't want to be around Narumi too much. He was interested in what he had to say though, so he left the door to the kitchen open.

"What happened after we escaped?" Shinoa asked.

"The situation at Sanguinem seems to have gone chaotic," Narumi said. "There were explosions and half the mansion was destroyed. Therefore the police decided that it is now illegal to be a magical girl, or boy, and work with magical organizations in this country."

"So what happened to the people there?" Shinoa asked.

"Guren and his squad escaped without any of them getting caught. They instructed us to go into hiding as well and we stayed like that for a week or so," Narumi explained. "As for the Majika no Oni, some managed to escape, but most were captured. The Hiiragi family managed to escape along with their closest, which means most high-ranking from the Majika no Oni were not captured."

"What happened after that one week?" Kimizuki asked.

"The Majika no Tsuki has split from the Majika no Oni. They are now two completely separate organizations, not just an organization and a branch organization. Guren is still leading the Majika no Tsuki. It was him who sent me here," Narumi explained.

"Guren sent you?!" Yuu asked, eagerly leaning forward. "Did he have anything else he needed to say?"

"Yuu-san, I'm the leader and the main character!" Shinoa yelled. "Don't take my place!" She then turned to Narumi. "Does he have another message to give us besides an update?" she asked, knowing that he had.

"He says it is safe to come out now," Narumi said. "The most of the chaos has died down. In fact he says that you have to come to the new organization's headquarters."

"For what reasons?" Mika asked coldly from the kitchen.

"It's no longer safe here," Narumi answered. "The Hiiragi family is looking for the Seraphs, whatever that is." He clearly had no clue of the minor details like the Owari no Seraph or the Oni.

"Then it's probably a good idea to go," Shinoa said, standing up. "How soon can we leave?" she asked.

"Mika's making curry!" Yuu whined. "Can't we wait until after we've eaten?" he asked.

Shinoa sighed. Yuu was way too obsessed with curry in her opinion. But she had adjusted to it, somewhat by now and actually found it kinda cute with that obsession of his. No wait, not cute… annoying, that's a better word! No, that doesn't make sense. Now how do I save it?

"We can wait until after we've eaten," she said, giving in to Yuu's request. "But then we need to leave right after, so let's all pack up and go." She turned to Narumi. "How far to the Majika no Tsuki's new headquarters?" she asked.

"It'll take about half an hour to get there," Narumi answered, " at least by foot."

Shinoa could accept that.

So after Mika had finished making curry and everyone had eaten it and prepared to leave, they left the little house for the last time. As they walked, a concern seemed to strike Kimizuki and he quickly headed up to walk beside Narumi.

"Do you know anything of my sister, Kimizuki Mirai?" he asked.

"No," Narumi said. "Why?" he asked.

"She's a seraph too," Kimizuki said.

"Then she has probably been taken in by our organization," Narumi answered and left the subject. He didn't know anything more about it anyways.

* * *

The new headquarters were literally underground. They had to walk down to a basement and then down some more stairs until they reached an iron door with a password which Narumi typed quickly, allowing the door to open and let them in. He took them inside the building and down some more stairs to a hallway with an office at the end. He knocked on the door and a muffled argument was heard from the inside. For some reason, this reminded Shinoa of the day when she had been summoned to Guren's office and given the order to gather her squad, meaning that she had to inform Yuu, Yoichi and Kimizuki of their abilities.

"Come in!" Guren finally said and Narumi opened the door.

The office looked like the former one. Guren had a desk in the opposite end of the room, facing the door. By one of the walls, not so far from the door, was a couch and a small coffee table. Guren was sitting in the chair behind the desk and Shinya was sitting in the couch with his feet resting on the coffee table. He held a cola in hand.

"Finally!" Guren exclaimed. He had obviously been waiting for them to arrive.

"Did we keep you waiting?" Shinoa asked in a sugar sweet tone.

"I missed you too," Guren said sarcastically. He looked at the six teens standing in front of him. He said nothing for about five minutes.

"The Kyuuketsuki are still out there," he said, looking at them. "Same is the Majika no Oni. The latter has labeled Hiiragi Shinoa and Sanguu Mitsuba as traders," he said.

"Is that so?" Shinoa couldn't care less about being a trader of the Hiiragi family. They had never really been much family to her anyways.

"I know I may be late to inform you of this, but since the Majika no Tsuki parted from the Majika no Oni, you have been free to do as you wish. You can join up with any organization you want, you can create your own or you can quit being magical all together," Guren said. "If you decide to join an organization, I will request for you to join this one, but it's up to you."

"You're exceptionally formal today," Shinoa said, smiling sweetly. "I want to discuss this with my friends though." She intentionally picked the word friends instead of squad because as long as they didn't belong to any organizations, they were nothing more than friends.

They didn't discuss for long. Yuu wanted to join up with Guren and Kimizuki felt the same way. Yoichi went along with it and Shinoa and Mitsuba didn't mind working under Guren. They had always been doing that anyways.

Mika was also given an offer of joining, he declined at first and said that he had no magical ability and to this, Guren shook his head.

"You got a weapon, right?" he asked.

Mika showed the weapon with an irritated expression. He didn't trust Guren very much.

"You can hold it, that means you can use it, and you succeeded in the contract," Guren said. "My advice is that you join. We can provide all of you with a place to hide and protection if needed. You will also get food, you just have to keep the town safe to earn it," he said.

It was something they could agree on quickly. And with that it was decided. So Shinoa's squad joined up with the Majika no Tsuki and they all went to live at their new headquarters along with all the other members. They continued their work of protecting the city against evil beings, Kyuuketsuki and even the Majika no Oni if needed. Everyone was happy, and 8 years later, Yuu-san and Shinoa got ma- WAIT! Okay fine. It's fiction anyways.


	41. Afterword: Revenge Taken

Hah! There you have it, Kagami Takaya. That's my revenge on you. I will now have all my friends read this story and I'm sure they'll tell me that this is the best story they have ever read, even better than those stupid light novels you are writing about Guren-san and Mika-san.

I still hate you. Nothing changes there. You're still a terrible person for having a young, innocent girl like me do all the hard work for you. You should've written this story as the first one, before even beginning on Yuu-san's story.

You know what? I think I'm going to win a prize for this work, no wait! I'm going to win a million prizes for this! And one for my patience.

Revenge is sweet and now I've taken the perfect revenge for not being a main character in any of your official works. As I said before, it's official that I hate you.

I'll give it to you though, writing is tough. It's not like I have that many spare moments, and certainly not enough to write so much as you. You should have a few moments though, so how come you don't spare them on my story?

Oh well, even if you want to write it now, you can never make it as good as mine. I'm sure of it! And everyone else who read this will know that I'm obviously the better author of the two of us, right?

But now, maybe I should end this little afterword. I don't have much time. I have duties as a leader so I have to attend to them soon. Yuu-san and Kimizuki-san are probably causing trouble again anyways. At least Yuu-san is for sure.

Maybe I should find Guren and tease him a bit first though. That sound fun. I think I'll do that.

See you some other time.

* * *

 **This is the end, and probably a more shitty one of them.**

 **I would like to thank Shiranai Atsune, varisara, Yui-kun23, Remonalin and Random Fangirl 43 for following the story. I would also like to thank Yui-kun23, Remonalin and Random Fangirl 43 for following, and Remonalin and Random Fangirl 43 for reviewing. I'm really grateful to all of you. **

**I would also like to thank all of you who stuck with this story until the end. It really makes me happy.**

 **I hope you'll read one of my works some other time.**

 **Jackie**


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